PLL Playoff Scenarios as Regular Season's Final Weekend Arrives
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© 2025 USA Lacrosse. All Rights Reserved.
© 2025 USA Lacrosse. All Rights Reserved.
The Premier Lacrosse League’s annual return to Denver did not disappoint.
Outlaws fans packed Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium, and JoJo War Drummer filled the air with rhythmic beats. The atmosphere was just as good as the action. Three of the four matchups were decided by one goal. The Outlaws’ 13-12 overtime win over the New York Atlas on Saturday also had one of the most dramatic finishes in PLL history.
Nobody can speak to Denver’s fanbase better than Eric Law, who has played eight seasons with the Outlaws and is the director of lacrosse development for Denver City Lax.
“When you get into professional sports and the whole crowd is for one team, man, it’s energizing when that crowd gets going,” he said. “I’m biased, but I think that Denver and Colorado sports fans are some of the best out there. We support our teams through and through.”
This is the second week in a row that a West Coast crowd has shown out to support their home crowds after the Utah Archers felt the support last week.
This season, three of the strongest crowds — Chicago, Salt Lake City and Denver — have been in non-traditional areas. League co-founder Paul Rabil has also teased a possible return for the Chrome on social media while fans have speculated that Chicago could be the market to match, but there is nothing firm as of now.
The PLL trade deadline was on Tuesday at 2 p.m. — but there were no deals. Being that it’s the last week of the regular season, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that most teams are either comfortable with their current rosters or think it’s too late to add a fresh face.
When asked about the deadline after losing to the Redwoods on Saturday, Maryland Whipsnakes head coach Jim Stagnitta said he hadn’t even thought about making a deal up to that point.
“I don’t know that adding someone to the lineup in the last week of the season is going to make much of a difference in that,” he said. “It may even put you more out of sync. We’ve got a lot of young guys out there, and they’re learning as they go.”
The Whipsnakes have shown the willingness to make a move in the past, though. They dealt a second-round pick at the deadline last season for midfielder Ryan Conrad and swapped rookie long-stick midfielders with the Carolina Chaos earlier this year.
They moved Scott Smith in exchange for Jack McDonald on June 10, and on Saturday, McDonald scored two goals. The only other notable trade this season was on June 9, when the Redwoods sent a third-round pick to Denver in exchange for midfielder Sam Handley.
He only appeared in four games after the trade.
The Jared Bernhardt sweepstakes was certainly the most exciting transaction for professional lacrosse fans this summer.
Five playoff spots are still in play in Boston, and the Outlaws are the only team locked into a No. 1 seed. It would take two momentous performances from the Boston Cannons and a significant loss for the Atlas to be leapfrogged by Boston for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Cannons currently have a minus-3 scoring differential heading into their doubleheader this weekend, while the Atlas lead the East with a plus-16 differential. As long as the Cannons don’t beat the breaks off both the Redwoods and Whipsnakes and the Atlas don’t fall asleep against the Waterdogs, their No. 1 seed is safe.
The Archers’ playoff hopes are still technically alive, but they would have to overcome their minus-14 scoring differential over the Redwoods’ minus-5 differential — on top of hoping for California to fall against Boston. They will already know their fate going into their game, as Utah faces Carolina immediately after California’s matchup on Friday.
Here are the other scenarios for the rest of the league:
They’re in if they:
They’re out if they:
They’re in if they:
They’re out if they:
They’re in if they:
They’re out if they:
They’re in if they:
They’re out if they:
They’re in if they:
They’re out if they:
Hayden Hundley has been involved with lacrosse since he was 6 years old and was brought on as Editorial Intern at USA Lacrosse in May 2025. He has covered Virginia men’s lacrosse with Streaking the Lawn, scouted DMV talent with Prep Lacrosse and was formerly the Sports Editor for James Madison’s student newspaper "The Breeze."
