San Francisco Unicorns Lead MLC 2025 With Unbeaten Record (Photo by MLC.com)
It has been an intriguing season at the 2025 Major League Cricket (MLC), played across three venues in the United States. The San Francisco Unicorns have dominated the tournament with both bat and ball, storming into the playoffs. Last season’s title winners—Washington Freedom—have also kept up their momentum and sit comfortably at No. 2 on the points table, with five wins from six matches.
Another major talking point of the season has been the high scoring rate and record-breaking totals—continuing a trend seen across T20 leagues globally. MLC 2025 has already seen several records broken and milestones surpassed.
RG looks at the trends, patterns, and other midseason talking points from MLC 2025.
NOTE: All stats updated through Match 17 of the season
DOMINATION OF THE SAN FRANCISCO UNICORNS
The San Francisco Unicorns are the only team to have qualified for the playoffs so far. They have won all six of their matches—most in emphatic fashion and by large margins. The Unicorns lead the league in multiple categories: highest combined batting average (35.4), batting strike rate (177.5), bowling average (22.58), and bowling strike rate (14.5). They’ve scored 200-plus totals in four of their six games and lead the league in sixes (79).
Two of the top five run-scorers—Finn Allen and Jake Fraser-McGurk—are Unicorns. Two of the top three wicket-takers—Haris Rauf and Xavier Bartlett—also represent San Francisco. Six of the 10 highest-impact players—Allen, Matthew Short, Rauf, Bartlett, Fraser-McGurk, and Hassan Khan—wear Unicorns colors.
WASHINGTON FREEDOM – A CLOSE SECOND
Washington Freedom have carried their form from last season into 2025, winning five of six matches. They currently sit second on the table and are one win away from clinching a playoff berth. The Freedom are the second-most explosive batting side this season, with a combined scoring rate of 167.4.
Mitchell Owen has been their standout all-rounder—he’s the team’s leading run-scorer (288 runs at a strike rate of 211.8) and is tied for most wickets (9). He’s been, by a wide margin, the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the MLC thus far.
Captain Glenn Maxwell has also shone, scoring 227 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 201. He blasted a brilliant century against the LA Knight Riders, coming in at 68/4, steadying the ship, and lifting the Freedom to a match-winning total above 200.
TEXAS SUPER KINGS – MOST ECONOMICAL BOWLING UNIT
With four wins from six matches, the Texas Super Kings are currently third in the standings. They’ve been the most restrictive bowling unit of the season, with a team economy rate of just 8.6. Adam Milne has been particularly frugal, conceding runs at just 6.77 per over. Noor Ahmad, continuing his fine form from the IPL, leads Texas in wickets. Faf du Plessis is the team’s top batter, with 214 runs at a strike rate of 172.
TRENDS AND PATTERNS
Soaring Run Rates and High Totals
The average run rate this season is 9.6—up significantly from 8.33 in 2024. While 311 sixes were hit during the entire 2024 season, 2025 has already seen 353 sixes through just 17 matches. There were only four 200-plus totals last year; this season has already delivered 11.
This explosive scoring mirrors a global trend, especially evident in the IPL’s 2024 season, which marked a new era in T20 cricket.
Chasing No Longer an Advantage
While chasing has historically been an advantage in T20 cricket—and was last season in MLC (13 of 22 results went to the chasing team)—2025 has flipped the script. Teams batting first have fared slightly better, winning 9 of 17 matches so far.
RECORDS & MILESTONES
Fastest Hundred
Finn Allen smashed a 34-ball century—the fastest in MLC history—in the season opener against Washington Freedom. It’s also the second-fastest hundred in any T20 league, behind only Chris Gayle’s 30-ball ton in the IPL in 2013.
Highest Team Total
In that same match, the Unicorns posted 269/5—the highest total in MLC history. They also hold the second-highest total of 246/4, scored against MI New York in Dallas.
Top Three Successful Chases
Seattle Orcas made history by chasing down a 238-run target set by MI New York in Dallas—MLC’s highest successful chase ever. Notably, the top three successful chases in league history have all happened this season—and all in Dallas.
Washington Freedom chased down Texas Super Kings’ 220/6 with seven wickets and two balls to spare, then followed that up by chasing 213 against the LA Knight Riders in a last-ball thriller.
Nikhil Narain is a die-hard cricket romantic, published author, and has worked for some of the leading digital websites and broadcasters in India and overseas. An alumnus of the London School of Economics, Nikhil's forte is using data and numbers creatively to weave interesting stories and revolutionize the way cricket statistics are generated and analyzed.
