(by Steve Hopkins, photo MLTT)
The 2025-26 Major League Table Tennis season has delivered its share of drama, with four-team matchups spread across the whole country bringing the highest level of table tennis to every corner of the country.
The season has delivered, now it all comes down to one final weekend. The Final Four teams will battle for the MLTT Cup on April 18 and 19 in Fremont, California. Next Saturday in the early matchup, the Portland Paddlers will face the Princeton Revolution. Later in the day at 4:30p it will be the Carolina Gold Rush against the Chicago Wind in the other Semifinal.
Portland and Chicago are the favorites to reach the Final. Portland will be missing key player Hampus Nordberg and three other players, so Carlos Hernandez and Darryl Tsao will be among those stepping up and into action. Nordberg and his wife are welcoming their third child, as he said in MLTT’s Week 15 highlights video “it stinks” to miss helping the team but family comes first.
Chicago has already beaten the Gold Rush twice this year, so they’ll be the favorite in the other Semifinal. But it’s a match against the No. 2 Wind and the No. 3 Gold Rush where the latter is the reigning MLTT champions. Expect to see a furious start – and a tight match where anything can happen.
What will the storylines be a week from now? Tune in an find out. Whatever the result, we’ll all be treated to elite table tennis from some of the best players in the world.
Tickets are on sale now (mltt.com), and the action will stream live (tabletennis.tv). Action starts on Saturday afternoon.
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