MLP's Hidden Edge: New 'Home Court Advantage' Rule Lets Teams See Opponent Lineups Before Play
What's the Score?
Orlando, Florida – Major League Pickleball (MLP) is introducing a significant rule change for the 2025 season, potentially tilting the strategic balance before matches even begin. Unofficially dubbed the 'Home Court Advantage Rule', this new regulation permits the designated "Home" team in a match to view their opponent's submitted lineups for gender doubles, mixed doubles, and the DreamBreaker before finalising and submitting their own. This contrasts sharply with the 2024 season, where lineup reaction ability was often determined by a coin toss.
Hit it deeper!
While much of the discussion around the 2025 MLP rule changes has focused on the switch from rally scoring back to side out scoring for doubles, the 'Home Court Advantage Rule' is emerging as an equally, if not more, impactful strategic development. The essence of the rule, as outlined in the 2025 MLP Rules Guide, is simple yet potent: the "Home" team is tasked with submitting their full lineup the night before the match, specifically by 10 pm local time. The critical part is that before they submit their lineup, they "will be able to see the opponent’s lineups and respond to the gender, mixed, and DreamBreaker lineups".
This is a major departure from the 2024 system, where the ability to react to mixed doubles pairings and DreamBreaker lineups was determined by a pre-match coin toss. The team winning the coin toss had the first choice of several match factors, typically opting to gain the advantage of reacting to the mixed doubles lineups. This was done because reacting to mixed doubles allows teams to potentially set up favourable matchups or strategically position their strongest pairing if leading after gender doubles. In 2024, the team that reacted to mixed doubles also had to be the first to submit their DreamBreaker lineup.
Now, the 2025 rule grants the designated "home" team the power to react to both the mixed doubles lineup AND the DreamBreaker lineup. This provides the home squad with a "huge advantage before players have even stepped on court". They can tailor their mixed doubles pairings to exploit perceived weaknesses in the opponent's lineup and also determine their DreamBreaker personnel knowing exactly who they will face.
A key consideration arising from this rule is the distribution of home and away matches across the 2025 season. With teams playing 25 regular-season matches at five out of ten events, it's impossible to have an equal number of home and away matches for everyone. This wasn't a significant factor in 2024, but now the unequal distribution has "huge implications". If a team plays more home matches, they benefit from this significant strategic advantage more times than a team with fewer home matches. The source likens this potential disparity to the impact of strength of schedule, which has been shown to correlate with team performance. Individual team schedules and the specific breakdown of home/away matches won't be known until closer to each event. The season kicks off Thursday at MLP Orlando.
The World Pickleball Verdict
The introduction of the 'Home Court Advantage Rule' is a fascinating strategic layer added to Major League Pickleball for 2025. By allowing the home team to see and react to opponent lineups across all crucial match segments (gender doubles, mixed doubles, and DreamBreaker), the league has created a tangible competitive edge tied directly to the schedule. This moves lineup strategy from a pre-match coin-toss gamble to a guaranteed advantage for whoever is designated the home team. The major implication lies in the unequal distribution of home matches. This disparity is no longer a minor scheduling quirk but a significant factor that could genuinely impact a team's overall win-loss record throughout the season. Teams with more home matches will consistently have a strategic edge in lineup construction that others won't, making the final distribution of home/away matches something analysts and fans will need to monitor closely. The rule adds intrigue but also raises questions about competitive balance if the home match distribution results in significant discrepancies between teams.