FREMONT, Calif. — Four teams are about to enter Championship Weekend as the shining stars of Major League Table Tennis’s (MLTT’s) third season. These four teams earned their spots in this year’s postseason and extended their seasons for just one more week.
And of those four teams, one will leave Table Tennis America in Fremont, Calif., on April 19 with the ultimate prize: the Season 3 MLTT Cup.
That team will etch its name into MLTT history and establish themselves as one of the greatest teams of all-time. But it won’t be easy. The winning team will not only have to win their semifinal match, but they’ll have to take down whomever stands between them and the Championship Match. That’s two wins against three of the best teams in the entire league, a challenge no team has faced all season long.
Which of the Portland Paddlers, Princeton Revolution, Carolina Gold Rush and Chicago Wind will rise to that challenge? Whichever teams can make it past the semifinal round, for starters. Each of these teams has known their first matchups of Championship Weekend since Week 15 ended, and have had plenty of time to prepare to take their first steps toward the podium on March 15. As long as they can make it past their first-round opponents, they’ll continue the trek that each of the four remaining MLTT teams hope to complete.
You can find table tennis betting odds HERE powered by BETONLINE.
The Portland Paddlers have been on top of the West Division throughout the entire season. The Princeton Revolution squeaked into a postseason spot after the final Golden Game of Week 15. The Paddlers are in the midst of a nine-match winning streak. The Revolution have only won their last two. The Paddlers have not lost a match since the year 2026 began, which was one day after the Revolution made their Season 3 debut. The Revolution have dropped 10 matches since the Paddlers’ last loss, with their most recent loss coming against the Paddlers themselves.
With that said, the Revolution are bringing the majority of their playoff-earning roster to Fremont, Calif., including MLTT No. 1 Cho Seungmin (SPINDEX: 2818) and No. 20 Benedek Olah (2750). The Paddlers will be missing half of the roster that earned them the league’s best record, including No. 3 Kang Dong-Soo (2788) and No. 9 Hampus Nordberg (2758). The Revolution are playing with the same roster they’ve fought all season long with. The Paddlers signed two free agents just to field a complete roster. The Paddlers enter Championship Weekend without their biggest strength: their incredible depth. The Revolution enter Championship Weekend with the two traits that brought them there: lineup versatility and chemistry.
The Paddlers made MLTT history in March by finishing Season 3 with a record-breaking 16 wins. But at this point in Season 3, those 16 wins don’t matter unless they can win two more. A single loss can nullify all the success the Paddlers have earned this season, and it could come at the hands of a Revolution team that matches up quite favorably against the new-look Paddlers.
This match could be a golden opportunity for the Revolution … as long as they don’t waste it. The Revolution have a habit of starting matches strong before sputtering by the end of Golden Games. They would have finished 13-5 if matches ended after Doubles. Instead, they’re 7-11. And if any team in the league knows how to rip open holes, it’s the Paddlers, the team who’s been doing so all season long.
So while these two teams ended Season 3 at very different placements, they will find themselves on opposite sides of a surprisingly equal table on April 13. If Princeton can capitalize on the Paddlers’ lack of depth, then they can earn a spot in their second-ever Championship Match. If they slow down, get in their own way or allow the Paddlers to stay within striking distance of them throughout the match, then the Paddlers could earn a chance to complete their dream season.
Chicago’s Robert Gardos (2841) finished the regular season with the most Singles wins (39) in the league, and he earned a higher SPINDEX rating than anyone who played a match in Season 3. That same season ended with a Singles percentage of 72.2% (39-15), a Doubles percentage of 55.6% (10-8) and a Golden Game percentage of 53.0% (62-55). Those stats, as well as his consistent reliability in Singles 1, earned Gardos the Men’s MVP Award for Season 3.
Carolina’s Chen Sun (2604) finished the regular season as the No. 7 player in all of MLTT, which ranks her higher than any other woman in the league. She also earned a Singles percentage of 71.4% (30-12), a Golden Game percentage of 60.9% (53-34) and 30 Singles wins. Those stats, as well as the two Player of the Week awards she won this season, earned Sun the Women’s MVP Award for Season 3.
As fate would have it, these two MVP winners will face each other in the semifinal round of Championship Weekend, but they’re not alone. Gardos will be joined by Season 2 Women’s MVP Mo Zhang (2593) and two-time Player of the Week Emmanuel Lebesson (2790) in Fremont, Calif., to form perhaps the most dangerous triple threat of any team still remaining. Sun will be joined by Season 1 Men’s MVP Enzo Angles (2774), as well as MLTT champions Eugene Wang (2804), Edward Ly (2721) and Kai Zhang (2748).
It’s fitting that these two teams should face one another in the semifinals. The Wind became the first team to reach the postseason this year, and the Gold Rush were the last team to win an MLTT Championship. The Wind have a rock-steady Singles core and a rotating door of Doubles talent, while the Gold Rush have experimented with all sorts of lineup combinations aside from their longstanding Doubles duo of Angles and Zhang. The Wind struggled in their Season 3 debut (Week 3), but closed out their season by winning eight out of nine matches since Week 7. The Gold Rush became the league’s first team to earn an undefeated weekend in their MLTT debut (Week 2), only to struggle with consistency throughout the rest of the season.
One of these two teams has to lose this semifinal matchup, and neither team seems like an easy out. The Wind have taken down the Gold Rush in every match they’ve played against one another, but the Wind haven’t faced a Gold Rush team as complete as the one going to Fremont. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that these are the two best-positioned teams heading into Championship Weekend, as neither team will play in this match without any of their core three players. This match is sure to be a bloodbath between two outstanding table tennis teams, both of whom have a real shot to take each other down. If the Wind can repeat their success against the Gold Rush once more, they’ll earn their first-ever appearance in the Championship Match. But if the Gold Rush show off their full potential, as they now have a chance to do with a nearly-complete roster, they could become the first multi-time champions in MLTT history.
Portland Paddlers:
Notable Absences:
Princeton Revolution:
Notable Absences:
Carolina Gold Rush:
Notable Absences:
Chicago Wind:
Notable Absences:
All four semifinal matches will be streamed on Table Tennis TV on April 18, as will the Consolation Match (4 p.m. EDT) and Championship Match (7:30 p.m. EDT) on April 19.
