It’s been a wild start to the 2026 PBR Team Series season, and while the teams battle for supremacy, their riders are fighting a second battle altogether: the MVP race.

Leading the league is no other than two-time PBR Teams MVP Jose Vitor Leme, and he’s showing no signs of slowing down after being banged up plenty over the course of the last two seasons.

Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, among others, threatens Leme’s hold over the league, but out-riding Leme is no simple task.

It’s an all Brazilian Top 5 right now, and the MVP race is gearing up to be a thriller.

Jose Vitor Leme

The 2022 and 2023 Team Series MVP is back in front of another MVP campaign through the first five events of the 2026 season.

Leme has ridden 12 bulls in 14 outs, including his last nine, for a total of 1063.2 points.

Leme has accomplished nearly everything a bull rider can in this sport, but he isn’t slowing down yet. In fact, he’s still after a few more records.

He recorded his 93rd career 90+ point ride in Austin last Saturday when he was 91.45 on Up the Ante. He is now one shy of matching Chris Shivers’ record of 94. It’s his best ride of the season so far. Leme entered the season with 90 career 90+ rides, 15 more than 3rd-place J.B. Mauney, but is now just one ride behind Chris Shivers’ record of 94 career 90+ point rides.

As mentioned, he has also covered his last nine and he inches toward some records on that front. If he is perfect during Thunder Days from Sept. 4-6, he will have ridden 12 in a row, something that has been done less than 10 times in PBR history. Leme’s own personal best is 14 straight.

If Leme were to hang on, it would give him plenty of bragging rights, especially as John Crimber has made a name for himself the past few years. Crimber has been battling injuries, and this could be Leme’s opportunity to separate himself as the first and only bull rider with three World Titles and three PBR Teams MVPs. That would be a pretty tidy resume for the GOAT debate one day.

Paulo Eduardo Rossetto

Leme is often another level, and this season Rossetto is the one matching him on that level.

Leme is up at least three bulls on everyone except Rossetto, who is 11-for-14 himself and just 92.1 points behind Leme.

Rossetto has been steadily in second place for weeks now and the Missouri Thunder’s leadoff man has done everything he can to keep pace, riding seven in a row himself. He has reached that mark three times in his career, but never covered the eighth.

Rossetto finished 10th in last year’s MVP race, riding 18-of-33, and seventh the year before. Rossetto’s riding percentage has never been better than 61% in a season, but so far this season, he’s covered 78.57% of his bulls, and must keep it rolling if he wants to catch Leme.

His next opportunity will come in front of the home fans in Missouri at Thunder Days in early September, laying out the red carpet for a career-best eight consecutive qualified rides and the chance to catch and surpass Leme as the MVP leader.

Riquelmi Silva

Silva, for a moment, was the MVP leader, but has since fallen two rides behind Rossetto and three behind Leme.

Regardless, he still has been an incredible addition to a rejuvenated Nashville roster and has thrived in the closer position. Nashville’s gone 7-2 when Silva scores, three of which have been walk-offs by him.

Silva finished his first Teams Season covering 9-of-15 for the Arizona Ridge Riders and finished 33rd in the MVP race. Already this season, Silva’s covered 9-of-14 and his average score has jumped from 86.03 to 88.46.

In Game 3 of Stampede Days, Silva covered Big Mac for a career-high 90.9 points to walk it off against the Oklahoma Wildcatters, which proved he could make big rides too, it has first career 90-point ride in the Premier Series competition.

Several members of the Stampede are also in MVP contention, but none are as close as Silva to the top spot. And Silva winning the award would perfectly represent the Stampede’s unexpected success this season.

Sandro Batista

Batista finished third in the 2024 MVP race behind Brady Fielder and John Crimber with 22 qualified rides in 33 outs. Injuries derailed any hopes of a 2025 campaign, but here he is in 2026, in four.

Like Riqeulmi Silva, he’s covered 9-of-14, but just has 10.95 fewer points.

Batista has moved around in the starting lineup, but has found the most success as the Outlaws’ leadoff man, where he’s made six of his nine qualified rides.

However, Batista has the worst average score of any rider in the Top 20 at 87.24 and must increase that if he wants to win MVP.

For now, though, consistency is king, and the Outlaws, who are in 8th place, can’t afford Batista to waver much more than he did last week when he snapped a streak of five in a row and finished the weekend 1-for-3.

Batista marks the last cowboy in the MVP Standings who could theoretically catch Leme in Missouri. It would be difficult, however, he would need to ride all three for at least 92.7 points and have Leme buck off all three. The bigger point, though, is that everyone else in the league is at least four bulls back of the leader.

The Rest of the Top 10

The riders ranked fifth and below won’t see their name atop the MVP ladder at the end of the next event, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t serious threats to Leme’s crown.

Elizmar Jeremias, Brady Fielder, Rogério Venâncio, and Eduardo Aparecido all slot in right behind Batista with eight qualified rides each.

Jeremias has the best ride percentage of the group at 66.67%, while Fielder and Venâncio have the worst at 57.14%. Jeremias also has the highest average of any rider in the Top 8 at 88.96 with Fielder just a hair behind him at 88.93.

Fielder’s been MVP runner-up the past two years to John Crimber. He lost both races by a combined three scores, but had a better ride percentage than Crimber each time.

Venâncio joins Silva as the other Stampede rider ranked in the Top 10, but unlike Silva, he has a perfect 3-for-3 weekend under his belt, doing so at Freedom Days.

Aparecido was formerly the highest-ranked Ridge Rider before riding just 1-of-3 last weekend. He was surpassed by his teammate, Jeremias. Aparecido has never finished outside the Top 13 in the MVP race and has finished inside the Top 10 twice, but never the top 5.

Behind the four riders with eight rides are another seven riders with seven rides.

The leaders of that group are Austin Richardson and Daniel Keeping, who both have a propensity for big scores in 2026. At 89.42 and 89.39 points respectively, they have the highest average scores of anybody in the Top 10, they are also the only two Americans. Seven of the Top 8 hail from Brazil with Fielder as the lone Aussie in the mix.