MLC 2026 Schedule Announced, Super Kings To Play Tournament Opener

MLC 2026 schedule revealed [Source: @MLCricket/x]

The schedule of the upcoming fourth edition of the Major League Cricket (MLC) has been finally unveiled. The official social media pages of MLC dropped the entire itinerary on Friday, March 20, i.e., roughly a couple of months prior to the launch of the season.

As per the entire MLC 2026 schedule, the Texas Super Kings and Seattle Orcas will be crossing paths in the opening match of the tournament on June 18. Defending champions MI New York, on the other hand, will play their first match on the third day of the competition at the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Texas.

MLC 2026 schedule out, new season to be played in 3 venues

The entire schedule of the upcoming MLC 2026 season has been finally unveiled by the tournament officials. All six competing franchises, namely Los Angeles Knight Riders, San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas, Texas Super Kings, Washington Freedom and defending champions MI New York will be making their return to the league’s roaster.

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Much like the 2025 edition of the tournament last year, the MLC 2026 season will once again feature 34 matches, including 30 league fixtures and four knockout games. The entire season will be hosted by three USA venues, namely the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Grand Prairie, the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland and the Knight Riders Cricket Field in Fairplex Pomona.

MLC 2026 season format

The MLC 2026 season will follow the familiar double round-robin format. All six teams will be facing each other twice as per the standard ‘home and away’ formatting schedule. The top four teams at the end of the 30-match opening round will qualify for the playoffs.

The teams securing a top-two finish in the league stage will face each other in the qualifier, with the winner advancing directly to the final, while the loser will get another chance to qualify by playing in the second qualifier against the winner of the eliminator.

Set to be played between June 18 and July 18 later this year, here is a look at the entire schedule of the upcoming fourth edition of the MLC.

MLC 2026 schedule

What happened in last year’s MLC?

The third edition of the MLC, also known as MLC 2025, was played between June 12 and July 13 last year across three different venues.

Despite finishing fourth on the league stage, the MI New York franchise won the MLC 2025 title by defeating table-toppers and tournament favorites Washington Freedom on the day of the final in Grand Prairie. Fast bowler Rushil Ugarkar bagged the ‘Player of the Match’ award for picking up the important wickets of Rachin Ravindra and Glenn Maxwell.

Texas Super Kings and San Francisco Unicorns also made it to the playoffs by finishing second and third respectively on the six-team standings. However, both Super Kings and Unicorns lost to MI New York in the Challenger and the Eliminator respectively to get knocked out of the competition.

Teams like the Seattle Orcas and the Los Angeles Knight Riders failed to make it to the top four.

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