St. Louis Shock
Finished 2 · 111 pts · Runners-up
St. Louis Shock finished 2 in the 2026 regular season on 111 standings points and made the 12-team playoff. Here is the roster as the season ended, the draft class that built it, and every trade and waiver move in between — reconciled from the league’s own transaction logs.
How the season ended
Runners-up. Beat Texas 3–0, 3–0 in the quarterfinals and Dallas 2–0 (6–2 in games) in the semifinal, then lost the final 2–0 to New Jersey, both days decided by a Dreambreaker.
Roster at season’s end
| Player | Tour ranking | 2026 season |
|---|---|---|
| Anna Bright | Women’s doubles #2 · 2272 Mixed #3 · 2372 | 90.2% from 92 matches gender doubles 43-0 · mixed 40-9 |
| Gabe Tardio | Men’s doubles #2 · 2372 Mixed #8 · 2140 | 84.7% from 98 matches gender doubles 49-0 · mixed 32-13 · singles 2-2 |
| Hayden Patriquin | Men’s doubles #4 · 2187 Mixed #13 · 2021 | 79.6% from 88 matches gender doubles 30-9 · mixed 40-9 |
| Kate Fahey | Women’s doubles #23 · 1857 Mixed #10 · 2032 | 71.7% from 106 matches gender doubles 17-10 · mixed 27-12 · singles 32-8 |
| Hunter Johnson | Men’s doubles #30 · 1827 Mixed #26 · 1891 | 68.8% from 77 matches gender doubles 11-8 · mixed 12-8 · singles 30-8 |
| Angie Walker | Women’s doubles #88 · 1592 | 30.3% from 33 matches gender doubles 6-8 · mixed 3-7 · singles 1-8 |
How a matchup is played
Every MLP match is four games in a fixed order — women’s doubles, men’s doubles, then two mixed doubles — each to 11, win by two, and all four are played even when the match is already decided, because point differential decides seeding. New for 2026: there are no starters and subs. A team may use all six players in one match, and may field a different man for men’s doubles than for mixed. Doubles lineups are submitted the night before. At 2–2 it goes to a DreamBreaker — singles, any four from the roster, two men and two women, chosen only after the fourth game, with the home team declaring first.
This is one of four teams whose pairing records were published during the 2026 playoffs. Regular-season records, before the playoffs began:
| Game | Pairing | W–L | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women’s doubles | Anna Bright & Kate Fahey | 30–4 | 88% |
| Men’s doubles | Hayden Patriquin & Gabe Tardio | 30–4 | 88% |
| Mixed | Hayden Patriquin & Anna Bright | 25–7 | 78% |
| Mixed | Gabe Tardio & Kate Fahey | 21–4 | 84% |
Where these numbers come from. Rankings and ELO are PickleWave’s per-discipline model, captured 4 September 2026 — an independent rating built from professional match results, not an official tour ranking, and its leaderboards run 100 deep per discipline. Mixed doubles is a single combined pool of men and women, so a rank there is not a rank among men or among women. Season records cover all professional play in 2026 — PPA, APP and MLP combined — not MLP alone. Pairing records, where shown, were published by The Kitchen in August 2026 with statistics credited to PickleKey.com. The roster reconciliation is our own work from the league’s draft results and transaction logs. Pickleball Insiders is not affiliated with Major League Pickleball.
How the roster was built
MLP’s 2026 draft was a live auction — teams bid for each selection slot, so there was no preset pick order. Teams could protect up to five players at the keeper deadline on 15 February; 54 players were kept across the league, and the remaining 66 slots were filled at the draft on 27 February.
Kept (3): Kate Fahey · Hayden Patriquin · Gabe Tardio
Drafted (3):
| Pick | Player | Reported bid |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anna Bright | $1.23M — the most expensive pick in MLP history |
| 29 | John Lucian Goins | — |
| 30 | Elsie Hendershot | — |
Transactions
| Date | In | Out | From / to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 24 | Hunter Johnson | Chicago Slice | |
| Jun 24 | Angie Walker | Texas Ranchers | |
| Jun 24 | John Lucian Goins | Chicago Slice | |
| Jun 24 | Elsie Hendershot | Chicago Slice |
February post-draft roster: Kate Fahey · Anna Bright · Elsie Hendershot · Hayden Patriquin · Gabe Tardio · John Lucian Goins
More: all 20 team rosters · the 2026 draft · season and calendar · pro coverage
About this page. Pickleball Insiders is an independent publication, not affiliated with, endorsed by or authorised by Major League Pickleball or any team or player named here. The roster is reconstructed from the league’s published draft, trade and waiver records applied in date order; where those records do not balance we say so rather than smoothing it over. A best reading of the public record, not an official roster document. Corrections welcome and made in place. Contact · How we work