MLC Power Rankings - Week 2

The middle gets mushy as the season approaches the halfway mark

GRAND PRAIRIE, TX - The second week of MLC produced some colorful plots within games and a lot more questions than answers for at least four of the six teams that took the field in Grand Prairie over the weekend after wrapping up an overall successful Oakland leg for the league. The 2025 season will hit its halfway mark this week, and the league has a clear frontrunner, a likely #2, and then two (or maybe three?) teams that are trying to figure out the other two playoff spots. Grand Prairie offers a lot of opportunities for teams to play themselves out of games with conditions that skew every bit as batter-friendly as Oakland, if not moreso because of the flat pitch; spinners could get more turn on an actual road than this thing. That means essentially relying on batsmen to play really dumb shots, get tired, or both. And both have happened four games in.

The major players now firmly established, the pivotal week is in front of us as teams get situated in Texas and look to make the most of it before moving onto the unpredictable Lauderhill, where the surface is usually decent but the chances of DLS shenanigans rise dramatically.

1. San Francisco Unicorns (No Change)

This week's forecast: mostly sunny with a chance of sparkles.

In a faltering chase on Monday against New York, Xavier Bartlett came in at number eight and hit the best white-ball score of his career at any level of senior cricket to lift the Unicorns over MINY. Then he took two wickets in the death in a terrific bowling partnership with Haris Rauf to stall out what looked like a sure-fire 200+ score from Texas in the first game of the season at Grand Prairie. Matt Short was terrific in his first game as captain for the injured Corey Anderson, picking up his fourth MLC 50 in 23 balls while Finn Allen sat and waited and then exploded with his third big score in four games. They still don't have a great spin option, and their batting depth was lackluster late on a batting-friendly track, but this team gives vibes similar to Washington last year with an explosive opening batting pair and two fantastic, in-form pacers.

Player of the Week: Xavier Bartlett. No one will confuse him for a true allrounder, but three wickets with a sub-8.00 economy and an unbeaten 59 against New York is everything San Francisco could have hoped for when they brought Bartlett in to replace Pat Cummins for 2025. I've been excited about Bartlett since I first saw his name attached to the Unicorns, and success here could really be a boost to the profile of a young bowler who hasn't established himself as a regular yet in Australia's deep pace attack.

2. Washington Freedom (+1)

After getting their doors blown off by San Francisco - which seems to be a rite of passage this season - Washington has rattled off four straight, obliterating Los Angeles, limping to the target chasing 189 against New York, and getting the chase just right against Texas on Sunday night to win by seven wickets with two balls to spare. Andries Gous finally broke out for 80 runs against the Super Kings, and Mark Chapman was instrumental in getting the Freedom over the line against MI New York. While they have looked slightly more mortal than the Unicorns, they're gaining traction with stout bats at key positions, and they're more willing to risk wickets to score big. That could especially serve them well on Sunday afternoon, when they get their rematch with the Unicorns.

Player of the Week: Mitchell Owen. It's not the runs for me, although those have been impressive and he's knocking the ball around with aplomb in Texas. What impresses me about Owen is the bowling, taking wickets with an economy of 8.00 on the nose and an average of 11.43. His scalps include Faf du Plessis, Monank Patel, and Andre Russell (which isn't that impressive given Russell's form but he did just play in the IPL). On Sunday night, he took down Smit Patel inside the power play. The power with the bat is impressive, but it's his ability to be a reliable wicket-taker that makes him a massive asset for a team that's down Lockie Ferguson right now.

3. MI New York (+1)

Talk about a good run of bad luck.

Withdrawals and injuries have forced them to the breaking point of their depth and now leave Nicholas Pooran as the wicketkeeper in place of Quenton de Kock, who did not finish the game against Washington after appearing to get drilled on the hip bone while batting earlier that night; 21 year old Rushil Ugarkar is a featured piece of the bowling attack, and Kieron Pollard - who got run out for the second time in four innings on Saturday - is a critical piece of the batting order.

Despite all of that, this still has the look of a playoff team. Michael Bracewell has been asked to step up and has delivered, Monank is still Monank, even at the top of the order instead of his preferred spot in the second wave, and Trent Boult looked much better in his outing against Washington than he did at any point in Oakland. There is enough for this team to limp through to the playoffs, and they are outperforming the teams below them in the table with a huge opportunity/point of anxiety against San Francisco tonight.

Player of the Week: Michael Bracewell. An unbeaten half-century in the chase against Seattle followed up by another unbeaten score in the 40s and pulling off every batter's worst nightmare at the non-striker's end by deflecting a comebacker onto the stumps for a run out, Bracewell has been a valuable contributor everywhere.

4. Texas Super Kings (-2)

What happens when your talisman wrist-spinner gets absolutely no help from the pitch and gets smashed for two of the worst games of his career? You go to Spain without the S.

Two losses at home to the two teams above them have left the Super Kings with more questions than answers, starting with, what the hell happened to Noor Ahmad? The Afghan wrist spinner was spectacular in Oakland but has been teed off on in Grand Prairie, giving up the second 50-run total of his career on Friday and 44 more Sunday night without a single wicket to show for it. Outside of Adam Milne, the pacers haven't been consistent enough to be relied on to take wickets, meaning spin has to be available for Faf at some point, and it simply has not been since the team started the home leg of its season. The Super Kings' batting order isn't beefy enough to make a bowling attack with a significant hole in it into a winning unit, so there are some real problems to be figured out.

Player of the Week: Faf du Plessis. Apparently TSK's captain just needed some good brisket to find his form again. The 40 year old scored 169 off 82 in his two matches this week, including his seventh T20 century on Friday against San Francisco. As the rest of the lineup has struggled to find consistency, Faf has switched it on and become the Faf he built his name on, like a true ageless wonder.

5. Los Angeles Knight Riders (No Change)

The decision to drop Sunil Narine for Sherfane Rutherford worked a treat for Jason Holder's crew, as Rutherford blasted the final 20 runs in just nine deliveries to give the Knight Riders their first win of 2025 (he also took a spectacluar one-handed catch to get Shimron Hetmyer in the final over of Seattle's innings). That ensured that LAKR's first-ever 100 partnership, a 139 score off 73 balls for Unmukt Chand and Saif Badar, didn't go to waste. It's the best their bats have looked this season. Swapping Nitish Kumar back in and dropping Matthew Tromp was... less successful, but as the Knight Riders know by this point, you can't win 'em all. At least they didn't get bowled out for 95 in 16 of the worst overs of cricket you'll see this year. Again.

Time is running out and options are dwindling. Jason Holder and DJ Bravo will need to manage their way through a pair of matches this week before facing Seattle again on Saturday to kick off a seven-day, three-game stretch that will decide their season: the Orcas on Saturday, then MI New York twice in 48 hours late next week. If LA wants to pull off a shock playoff berth, they need to win all three.

Player of the Week: Saif Badar. LAKR played two games this week and Badar was the only bat to crack 30 in both, including his first ever half-century in T20 cricket. He has also been the supporting piece in LAKR's two largest partnerships of the last week, a 35-run stand with Jason Holder in an otherwise abysmal showing against Washington, and the aforementioned 139. Badar seems to have a sense of the scale of his opportunity here to lock down a spot with a team that needs younger, fresher faces in the first XI. At 26, he suits that bill, and merits further watching by both Dwayne Bravo and by US national team selectors: the Pakistan-born batsman becomes eligible for the USA in 2026.

6. Seattle Orcas (No Change)

I've got nothing that wasn't already laid out with better harmonies by Hee Haw: gloom, despair, and agony.

Not only is this team bad, the vibes are bad. Watching them in person just underscored how negative the body language is for a lot of these players. Aaron Jones posted his highest score since his iconic 94* against Canada on this same pitch a little over a year ago with a 44 against Los Angeles on Sunday, but it took forever to accelerate and it felt like he was gunshy after failing to crack 20 in his first few games this season. Jones is the most vibes-based player in American cricket; if it's not going well for him, you're gonna have a bad time.

The batting is uninspired. The bowling is uninspired. They have yet to do both even mostly well in the same game. They're flat-out giving away the foam fin hats at games. I would rather they give me Ayan Desai, Ali Sheikh, and Rahul Jariwala. If they're not gonna use them, I'll start my own team with them.

Player of the Week: Shayan Jahangir. It was good to have an in-form domestic player back in the lineup after Jahangir missed the first two games, and he delivered a big contribution to help the Orcas to 200 against New York. He didn't get much more than a good start against Los Angeles on Sunday, but that's better than a lot of Seattle's batters could ask, and he took two crucial catches early to put pressure on LA, including delivering a much-needed wicket for Cameron Gannon with some solid glove work. That's about as good as it got for the Orcas this week.

---

Thank you so much for reading Stumps & Stripes! I’m excited to continue bringing forth coverage of US cricket, with lots of things in the pipe centered on more than just MLC and even the national team. If you liked this piece, check out my thoughts on the Oakland leg of the tournament from last week:

I spent the weekend in Grand Prairie attending MLC matches in-person for the first time. Stay tuned as I share my thoughts later this week, plus a piece on the future of Corey Anderson in San Francisco and beyond.