The Major League Cricket (MLC) Twenty20 (T20) tournament started on June 12, and the curtains will close on Sunday, July 13, with the final, following the last playoff game this evening. The tournament, in it’s third staging, is comprised of six teams, that all include players from traditional cricket-playing nations, and is organised by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) and sanctioned by USA Cricket.

Founded in 2023, MLC operates as a single entity under which all teams are owned by ACE and the six city-based franchises are operated by individual groups of investors. The league’s six teams are the Texas Super Kings, Los Angeles Knight Riders, MI New York, San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas, and Washington Freedom, with plans to increase the number of franchises over the next few years. One can only assume that the expansion will depend on the economic viability of the league, but MLC also operates a developmental league, Minor League Cricket (MiLC), which launched ahead of MLC in 2021. It consists of 26 franchise-based teams in four regional divisions, but unlike MLC, MiLC operates with privately owned franchises.

While certainly not the most popular sport in North America, the MLC tournament has seen steady growth in attendance year after year. And with the USA slated to host the Olympics in 2028, where cricket will make a much-anticipated return (cricket was a part of the 1900 Olympics but has not featured since), it is good to see the sport trending in a positive direction, leading up to the games. In fact, based on research, the first-ever singular international team sporting event in modern times – not even just in cricket — was a cricket match between teams representing the United States and Canada back in 1844. The two-day match, extended to three days due to rain delay, was played at the St George’s Cricket Club grounds in New York, and the Canadians won the match by 23 runs.

The 2025 MLC regular season, that was played in a double round-robin format, ended last Sunday before the playoffs got underway on Tuesday of this week. Four of the six teams advanced to the playoffs, based on their regular season records, to match wits and skills for a place in the championship game. The four advancing teams (in order of points standing) were Washington, Texas, San Francisco and New York, with Texas and Washington opening the postseason on Tuesday for the first qualifying game. However, the game was called off without a ball being bowled due to persistent rain in Grand Prairie, Texas.

Within the rules of the tournament, Washington, the current defending champion, who held a superior record over Texas on the points table in the regular season, officially qualified as the first finalists of the 2025 season, automatically booking their place for Sunday’s final. Texas, on the other hand, still have an opportunity to reach the final via the second qualifying event, as they will face New York this evening, who bettered San Francisco in the eliminator game of the play-offs on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s game was also affected by rain at the Grand Prairie Stadium, but it came after a sub-par innings of 132 runs by San Francisco. Following the lengthy rain delay, New York started their chase and were heading stably in pursuit, as they concluded the powerplay on 37 runs without the loss of any wickets. However, as the innings progressed, New York found themselves in a spot of bother, after what appeared to be a routine chase, the middle order was taken out by an impressive spell of bowling by San Francisco’s bowling attack. Then with 40 needed at almost a run-a-ball, Xavier Bartlett struck a timely blow, sending New York’s premier striker Kieron Pollard back to the dressing room as the Unicorns started to believe they had a grip on a game that initially appeared to be out of touch.

MI New York slid into further trouble at 98 for 6, needing 34 runs off the last five overs. Then at 108 for 8, with 24 runs still required, the tail was truly exposed. San Francisco needed just two more wickets to complete a remarkable victory, but in a final show of resistance, New York’s Trent Boult built a vital ninth-wicket partnership with Nosthush Kenjige, and after Boult’s decisive back-to-back maximum boundaries over long-on in the final over, the Unicorns’ dreams were crushed. New York got over the line by two wickets in a nervous run-chase, to set up a battle against Texas tonight for a place in the final on Sunday against Washington, who are favoured by JustBet to be back-to-back champions.

JustBet offers over 70 possible betting options for each game, including LIVE betting and player props, and the league’s website (https://www.majorleaguecricket.com) offers a host of statistical information to aid in bet selection. Similar to most other T20 tournaments, the match-ups offer a faster-paced game, compared to traditional formats like Test cricket or even one-day internationals. The typical T20 game is completed in about three and a half hours, which is close to the timespan of other popular team sports in the USA and should attract more fans in seasons to come.