From games that showed teams' title potential to results that shifted the bid picture, who says the regular season doesn't matter?
October 21, 2025 by Aidan Thomas in Opinion, Recap
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The Line brings together lists of sevens from our reporting staff.
Between familiar names laying claim to TCT titles year-in and year-out and others limping to a Nationals bid on the backs of skeleton crews, “the regular season doesn’t matter” has become a familiar refrain among club ultimate fans. But hindsight is 20/20, and with Nationals on the horizon, results that seemed easy to dismiss or offered little in the way of clarity now gleam with kernels of insight into the 16 teams still competing for a title. So dismiss the summertime naysayers, and dive into the seven most illuminating regular season games.
San Francisco Revolver 15-11 Chicago Machine, Pro Champs Final
Revolver entered the year seemingly as the forgotten fourth of last year’s semifinalists with Rhino, PoNY, and Machine dominating preseason storylines, but they quickly captured the headlines with a near-unbeaten regular season, punctuated with this Pro Champs final victory over Machine.
The win was important in that it firmly established Revolver as the title favorites entering the postseason. Machine played only this one tournament at relatively full strength and ran unbeaten to the final before falling to Revolver. Meanwhile, the game itself showcased much of what makes Revolver a feared squad at Nationals. The “everyone eats” mentality on offense featuring elite small ball movement and fast break ability, all centered on the pinpoint disc distribution by Mac Hecht, dominated for much of the game. Meanwhile, on defense, the star power comes in waves, and the depth is remarkable. Nobody wants a piece of Dexter Clyburn or Michael Ing, but throw in Jason Vallee, Byron Liu, Toby Warren, Kyle Lew, and a host of other pieces who can rotate in without sacrificing quality, and you have a defense that can help you put away games quickly.
Chicago Machine 15-13 New York PoNY, Pro Champs Semis
After a 1-5 effort at US Open with missing pieces and calling fairly open lines, Machine left themselves one tournament to leave an impression: Pro Championships. And they made a good one, quickly re-establishing themselves as a title contender, and potentially as Revolver’s top challenger. Much of that can be attributed to Machine’s go-to guy – Daan De Marrée – but what made this specific result remarkable was that Machine did much of it without their offensive leader. Upon De Marrée’s early departure, Machine’s other stars proved they’re good enough to win high-profile games, and De Marrée is the additional piece that could make this team a national champion. Nate Goff and Paul Arters are stars in their own right, and even with the offense still gelling together, the defense comes through with frequent blocks; second-year star William Wettengel is one of the unit’s leaders, but Pawel Janas, Victor Luo, Andrew Sjogren and many others can be strong defensive forces and lethal on the counterattack.
Notably in this game for Chicago, and for much of the Pro Champs weekend, their D-line carried the flag as Machine’s offense struggled for chunks of the weekend. That they got to the final of this tournament, with a win over PoNY while featuring an inconsistent offense missing its biggest star… Machine made a statement with this result.
Raleigh Ring of Fire 15-11 Washington DC Truck Stop, Pro Champs Consolation Play
This result spoke volumes about both teams. Ring of Fire endured some early season struggles with a young roster taking some lumps. After losing several former UNC stars including Rutledge Smith and Ben Dameron, Raleigh turned to a younger roster that went 3-3 at PEC East, featuring losses to Virginia Vault and Toronto GOAT and demonstrating a lower floor than in years past.
Two months later, Ring returned to tournament action and looked much better, beating PoNY and Truck Stop on universe in pool play. After both DC and Raleigh lost tight quarterfinals, the two met again in consolation, and again, Ring prevailed, this time by a wider margin, a 15-11 win over a reeling Truck team. Ring re-established themselves as a definitive bracket play contender with a much higher floor than was demonstrated at PEC, while Truck showcased a floor far lower than many thought.
Did Truck mail it in once in the consolation bracket? It’s possible, but a pair of losses to Ring on the weekend showed it was more than a one-off result. After Truck’s 0-6 Pro Champs weekend, the argument could be made that Ring could very well go further than Truck at Nationals, an unthinkable statement just days prior.
Seattle Sockeye 15-14 Portland Rhino Slam!, PEC West Semis
Rhino Slam! seemed to have all the pieces to repeat after a dominant 2024 run at Nationals. They certainly still could, but the pieces just didn’t really come together as expected in the regular season. Meanwhile, Sockeye rode their young stars as they returned to elite form – a form good enough for a strong bracket run at Nationals. Declan Miller, fresh off a D-I national championship with Carleton, seemingly made the transition from rising club star to just a club star.
On universe point in this game, Miller was the initiating cutter, getting open with ease, quarterbacked a quick give-and-go and then released a daring blading flick to set up the game-winning assist. Miller, Elijah Diamond and Cedar Hines – more young college talent – meshed well with veteran additions Troy Holland and Jonny Malks, bringing some of the missing pieces Seattle needed. They looked to be the better side over a nearly full strength Rhino squad, leading most of the way and survived a late break by Rhino to win on universe and make the early-season statement.
Ottawa Phoenix 14-13 Denver Johnny Bravo, PEC East Pool Play
Johnny Bravo brought essentially a JV squad to PEC East, going 2-4 with no wins against top-20 teams. When it came time to divvy out bids to Nationals, that decision didn’t hurt Bravo, but it certainly made waves in the overall bid-earning picture. Crucially, Ottawa Phoenix came out in the first round and took advantage of the weakened Bravo side, winning the opening pool play game. That proved to be Phoenix’s biggest win of the season (by the rankings), and it was a key result that helped Ottawa hang onto the third bid for the Northeast.
However, it wasn’t Phoenix who capitalized on the bid at Regionals – it was Maine’s Portland Red Tide, claiming their first Nationals appearance in 26 years after entering Northeast Regionals as the sixth seed. They were the only team in the men’s division to steal a bid, and they can offer at least some thanks to Bravo’s “varsity”1 roster at PEC East.
Philadelphia Pacmen 13-10 Washington DC Truck Stop, Philly Invite Pool Play
This one is simple enough – the arrival of a true national threat from Philadelphia in the men’s division. After some middling years from Phantom, Pacmen burst onto the scene, bringing in some of Philly’s top talent along with major contributors from last year’s Ghostbusters squad that made a strong run at Mid-Atlantic Regionals. This year, it looked like Pacmen were on that next level, and they showed as much with an early statement 13-10 victory over Truck Stop at the Philly Invite. It was only a pool play win in the season’s first tournament, but Pacmen showed they were there to compete for a Nationals bid. And they ended up earning one with ease, returning the Mid-Atlantic to a two-bid region after a one-year hiatus.
Washington DC Truck Stop 15-13 Brussels Mooncatchers, US Open Semifinals
We’ve spent two paragraphs looking at Truck Stop losses, so let’s end this piece with a reminder of what DC’s ceiling can be on their best day. Against a very strong Belgian squad, Truck Stop showcased their new offensive style, spearheaded by hybrids Sean Mott and Aidan Downey, and their defensive prowess, as Alexandre Fall generated two blocks and notched four goals, including the game winner. This Mooncatchers team won’t compete for a USAU club title, but they certainly have the talent to do so. Even if Truck’s win doesn’t technically count for ranking purposes, this may have served as DC’s best game of the season, and the clearest sign that they could still compete for a national title in San Diego.
Bravo’s own designation, not ours ↩
