Major League Cricket 2025 Mid-Season Review: Unicorns Undefeated; Runs Flowing Thick And Fast

It has been an interesting season at the 2025 Major League Cricket (MLC) played across three venues in the United States this year. San Francisco Unicorns have dominated the tournament with the bat and ball and stormed into the playoffs while last-season’s title winners – Washington Freedom – have also kept up the momentum and sit pretty at number two on the points table with five wins from six encounters.

Another major talking point of the season has been the high scoring rate and the – keeping up with the trend across all T20 leagues around the world. MLC 2025 has also witnessed a number of records broken and milestones surpassed.

We look at the trends and patterns and other talking points mid-season at MLC 2025.

Note: All stats updated till after match 17 of the season

Domination Of San Francisco Unicorns

San Francisco Unicorns are the only team to have made it to the playoffs this season. They have dominated the edition and won all their six encounters – most of them in emphatic style with a big margin of victory.

Unicorns have been brilliant with the bat and ball and have the highest combined batting average (35.4), batting strike rate (177.5), bowling average (22.58) and bowling strike rate (14.5) this season. They have hammered 200+ totals in four of their six encounters and also smashed the most sixes (79).

Unicorns have two batters in the top five run-getters this season – Finn Allen and Jake Fraser-McGurk. Two of the top-three wicket-takers – Haris Rauf and Xavier Bartlett – are from Unicorns. Six of the 10 highest impact players in the tournament – Allen, Matthew Short, Rauf, Bartlett, Fraser-McGurk and Hassan Khan – are all part of Unicorns.

Washington Freedom: A Close Number Two

Washington Freedom have continued with their momentum from last season and won five of their six encounters this year. They are currently at number two on the points table and a win away from the playoffs. Freedom are the second-most destructive batting unit in the tournament with a combined scoring rate of 167.4.

Mitchell Owen has been their star all-rounder – he is their leading run-scorer (288 runs at a scoring rate of 211.8) and joint highest wicket-taker too (9 wickets) which makes him, by some distance the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 2025 MLC thus far.

Skipper Glenn Maxwell has also hammered 227 runs in six innings at a rate of 201. He blasted a brilliant ton against LA Knight Riders, coming out to bat at 68/4, absorbing the pressure of the situation and powering Freedom to a match-winning 200-plus total.

Texas Super Kings: The Most Economical Bowling Unit

Texas Super Kings have four wins from six encounters and are currently at number three on the table. Texas have been the most restrictive bowling unit of the season with an economy rate of just 8.6. Adam Milne has been very economical and has conceded at a rate of just 6.77 per over.

Noor Ahmad has continued his good run from the IPL and is the leading wicket-taker for Texas this season. Faf du Plessis is the standout batter with an aggregate of 214 runs at a strike rate of 172.

Trends And Patterns

Soaring Run-Rate And High Totals

The average run-rate this season at the MLC is 9.6 – which marks a significant jump from the run-rate in 2024 – 8.33. There were a total of 311 sixes hit in the entire 2024 season whereas 2025 has already witnessed (at the end of 17 matches) a total of 353 hits over the fence. Moreover, there were just four 200-plus team totals last year and that number has gone up to 11 already this season.

This trend in scoring has been seen across all leagues, especially in the IPL where 2024 was a breakthrough season, unleashing a new era in T20 cricket across the world.

Chasing Not An Advantage

Chasing has been a historical advantage in all T20 cricket and the trend was also witnessed in the MLC last season with the team batting second winning 13 of the 22 result-matches. However, that has not been the case this time around and the team setting a target has actually fared marginally better, coming out victorious in 9 of the 17 matches thus far.

Two Thrilling Last-Ball Finishes

The 2025 season of the MLC has witnessed two thrilling chases – both last-ball finishes ending with a victory for the team batting second. Washington Freedom chased down Los Angeles Knight Riders’ score of 213 at Dallas with 5 wickets in hand – Glenn Phillips scored the winning run off the last delivery of the 20th over bowled by Andre Russell.

The very next day, bottom of the table, Seattle Orcas gunned down the highest chase in MLC history when they overcame MI New York’s 237/4 with Shimron Hetmyer hitting a six (6 were needed off the last ball) off the last legal delivery of the match off Kieron Pollard to secure a scintillating victory.

Records And Milestones

Fastest Hundred

Finn Allen smashed a 34-ball hundred (fastest in MLC history) in the league opener against Washington Freedom. It was also the second-fastest hundred in any T20 league ever after Chris Gayle’s 30-ball ton for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Pune Warriors in the IPL in 2013.

Highest Team Total

In the same match, Unicorns powered to 269/5 – the highest team total in MLC history. Interestingly, the second-highest team total is also by Unicorns – and it came this season against MI New York in Dallas – 246/4.

Three Highest Chases

Seattle Orcas created history when they mauled down the 238-run target set by MI New York in Dallas on Friday. It was the highest successful chase by any team in MLC history. Incidentally, the top 3 chases in the MLC have all been witnessed this season itself. And all of them at Dallas.

Washington Freedom chased down Texas Super Kings’ 220/6 with seven wickets in hand and two balls to spare before gunning down LA Knight Riders’ 213 in a thrilling encounter (which ended with a last-ball finish) four nights later also at Dallas.