What we can learn about the Nationals field from some of the results that led us to this point.
October 21, 2025 by Aidan Thomas in Opinion, Recap
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2025 club ultimate season are presented by Spin Ultimate; all opinions are those of the author(s). Find out how Spin can get you, and your team, looking your best this season.
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 let’s dismiss the summertime naysayers and dive into the seven most illuminating regular season games.
Huntsville Space Force 15-12 Sacramento Tower, Elite-Select Challenge Consolation Play
Space Force finished the season with a rating of 1804… the exact same as the next team on the bubble, Sacramento Tower, save for a few decimals. But a key head-to-head result kept Space Force in bid-earning territory and left Tower on the outside looking in. The key was this very contest, played at an ESC where Tower were down a pair of their best players, Tyler Bacon and Robyn Fennig. It set up one of the most chaotic regionals in recent history, as the two-bid Southwest region turned into absolute madness, with neither bid-earners qualifying for nationals while Tower and Arizona Lawless, the sixth seed, escaped the region. Does the Southwest get less chaotic if Tower claims that third bid? Maybe, maybe not, but there’s definitely a higher chance we have San Francisco Mischief in San Diego instead of being one of two algorithmic top-five teams left out of the Nationals field.
Ithaca Townies 12-10 Seattle Mixtape, Elite-Select Challenge Consolation Play
While we’re talking about top-five teams that didn’t make Nationals, let’s look at the Northwest, where Seattle Mixtape languished just outside the top 20 and failed to make a serious push to earn a second bid for the region. A middling season saw this squad flash potential at times but never truly put it together, leading to some truly rough losses, none worse than their showing against unranked Townies, a team well outside the top 25 who dispatched Mixtape in the ESC ninth-place bracket. The loss kickstarted a seven-game losing streak for Seattle heading into the postseason. Then, when the lights got brightest, Mixtape found their mojo and upset Seattle BFG to take the Northwest’s bid and head to Nationals. The mixed division loves chaos, and Mixtape were more than happy to add to the cause. And props to Townies for earning their season’s best win before trudging their way to a seventh-place finish at Northeast Regionals.
Michigan Hybrid 15-6 New York XIST, Pro Champs Semis
Hybrid are the title favorites for good reason. The defending national champs took some early lumps at PEC East, but they turned on the jets in August and won both the US Open and Pro Champs with unblemished records. No win was a bigger statement then their absolute thrashing of New York XIST in the Pro Champs semifinal. XIST had beaten Hybrid at PEC East and will enter Nationals as the two-seed. Backed by Ultiworld’s #1 player in the division Jolie Krebs, they have the pieces to win a title. But their most recent clash with Hybrid tells a different story. Hybrid were simply on another level, and their 7-0 second-half run highlighted the defensive prowess for the Michigan squad, with Tracey Lo and Annalise Meilink taking on Krebs and other top matchups, 2024 defensive player of the year Nathan Champoux and Dalton Smith highlighting the raw talent and athleticism of their MMPs. They’re one leg away from completing the Triple Crown, and you’ll be hard pressed to find many teams who feel like suitable challengers to the defending champs.
Sacramento Tower 11-10 Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust
Sacramento Tower 10-9 Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust
Sacramento Tower didn’t end up earning a bid, although they were less than one rating point away. However, that didn’t stop them from making statements during the regular season, including two early season victories over 2024 national semifinalists Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust. These results showcased Tower’s ceiling as they enter Nationals with four wins over teams in the field plus additional wins over both Southwest bid-earners as they played their part in that chaotic regional tournament. Drag’n Thrust may arguably still have the ceiling of a title winner, but these early upsets reset some expectations and showcased a lower floor than many expected as Minneapolis stumbled to a 3-3 record at their opening tournament.
Boston Sprocket 15-9 Washington DC Rally, US Open Consolation Play
Sprocket just barely hung on to the third bid for the Northeast, and this result is one of the biggest reasons why. Sprocket finished their regular season with a dud at Pro Champs, putting forward a 1-5 record, truly showcasing the importance of Tanner Johnson-Go to this team’s ceiling. Sprocket may have showcased that ceiling in this game from early August before, thrashing the Mid-Atlantic’s second bid earner 15-9 in the fifth-place bracket less than a full day after Sprocket eked out XIST in prequarters for the two major wins on their resume that earned them a bid. Sprocket took advantage with a rip-roaring regionals weekend and are through to Nationals. Don’t be stunned if they showcase a far higher ceiling than their seeding (9) would indicate now that they have Johnson-Go back in the fold.
Philadelphia AMP 11-10 Boston Sprocket, PEC East Pool Play
After a lengthy Nationals streak was snapped in 2024, Philadelphia AMP wanted to make an early statement. They wasted no time, opening their season with a pool play win over 2024 second-place finishers Sprocket. On a resume that doesn’t boast much else in the way of wins over Nationals competition (outside one win against a Tower team missing several players) the result was a key one in AMP’s bid-earning campaign, as they finished 14th in the rankings — just inside the bubble — to get the Mid-Atlantic a second bid, which they defended at regionals.
Ann Arbor Hybrid 15-9 Boston Slow, Pro Champs Final
We’ve talked about Hybrid already, so let’s focus on one of their potential challengers in Boston Slow, who matched up with Hybrid in the Pro Champs final. The score line here doesn’t look great for Slow, but some of the moments on the field, and notably who wasn’t on the field, tell a different story. Slow were extremely shorthanded in this game, missing Louis Douville Beaudoin, Ben Sadok and Josh Markette, all major O-Line contributors, yet they managed to deliver an early upwind break and battled Hybrid all the way. With their younger depth pieces getting key experience in a major final, Slow will feel good about both their depth and returning star power as they enter Nationals eyeing a deep bracket run.
