The PBR Team Series returns this weekend in Fort Worth for Rattler Days. It’ll kick off the final stretch of four events before the World Finals in November. 12 games are all that’s left for teams and their riders to finish the season strong. While the race for 1st place in the Teams standings remains up in the air, the MVP race is already close to being finalized.

That’s because MVP Leader Jose Vitor Leme and current runner-up Paulo Eduardo Rossetto have pulled away from the rest.

Leme, with 20 rides, and Rossetto, with 19, lead No. 3 Brady Fielder, who has 15 rides. With a maximum of 12 rides left in the season, and considering how nearly perfect Leme and Rossetto have been riding, it’s unlikely they’ll be knocked off their pedestals.

However, last year saw the narrowest MVP race in Team Series history, where three riders trailed MVP John Crimber by three rides or less.

Two of those three runner-ups trailed Crimber by just a single ride, including Brady Fielder, who finished runner-up.

Fielder In Limbo:

Fielder has finished 2nd in the MVP race in each of the past two years. This year, the Texas Rattler has the best shot at dethroning Leme and Rossetto, who sit atop the standings.

Fielder currently has the best average ride score of any athlete in the top-10 at 88.85 points per ride. So, while Fielder needs Leme and Rossetto to suffer multiple buckoffs, he can bank on gradually out-pacing them through his exceptional average ride score.

That’s a tall order, though, as with 15 rides currently under his belt, Fielder would need to outride Leme by at least five rides, if not six, in their last 12 games to secure the MVP award. That means Leme, who’s currently ridden 20-of-23, must at the very least triple his total buckoffs this season in the next four events.

Same goes for Rossetto, who’s covered 19-of-23. Fielder would need Rossetto to double his buckoffs he’s had this season, if not more.

On top of that, Fielder would need to go on an incredible ride streak of his own to catch up.

Leme and Rossetto each broke and extended the longest ride streak in Teams history this season. Leme got it to 14 in a row, and Rossetto stretched it to 15. Those streaks are the 4th- and 3rd-best ride streaks in Premier Series history.

Fielder has covered his last three, though, and seven of his last eight. If Fielder rides perfect the rest of the year, he’d match Rossetto’s historic ride streak of 15 in a row.

That would put Fielder at 27-of-35 ridden on the season. Rossetto and Leme would need to ride just 75% of their bulls over the next four events to beat that, and they have yet to dip below an 80% ride percentage.

The battle between Leme and Rossetto, however, has been and will continue to be intense.

Leme, Rossetto, MVP Juggernauts:

Leme leads Rossetto by a single ride, but it’ll take more than one ride for Rossetto to surpass him. The 2x Teams MVP leads by 95 points in the aggregate, and Rossetto’s never scored more than 91.5 points in a single ride.

Rossetto has arguably ridden better than Leme this season. He has five 90+ scores to Leme’s three, a longer ride streak, 15 to Leme’s 14, and his team, the Missouri Thunder, sits in 1st place, while Leme’s Austin Gamblers are in 4th.

Still, Rossetto needs Leme to slip up at least twice to catch him, and Leme hasn’t bucked off consecutive bulls all season.

No top-ranked rider in Team Series history has finished with a ride percentage above 80%. However, Leme and Rossetto have both covered more than 80% of their bulls so far.

Leme currently holds the record for best ride percentage in a Team Series season, with at least 20 outs. He covered 76% of his bulls in 25 total outs in 2022 and won the MVP.

Leme won the 2023 MVP too, and finished 4th in 2024. Last year he missed half the season due to injury but still finished 19th by covering 76.47% of his rides.

As it stands, Leme has the proven experience to capture his third Team Series MVP.

Both Leme and Rossetto must keep riding at the unprecedented rate they have been, or risk the other flying past them.

While the two are at odds, they’re also forcing each other to ride better than they ever have.

Regardless of who wins the MVP, the winner will set a new standard for perfection within the Team Series.

Outside Looking In:

Behind Leme, Rossetto, and Fielder are Alan de Souza, Everton Natan da Silva, and Sandro Batista with 13 rides each.

Batista has struggled lately but remains in familiar territory. He finished 3rd in the 2024 MVP race. De Souza and da Silva have been riding well. De Souza has covered eight of his last 11, while da Silva has covered eight of his last nine.

However, barring incredible luck, those three are all but eliminated from MVP contention. They’re facing a steep uphill battle, but for the time being, they all have a puncher’s chance.

With four events left, the Team Series MVP race has become a three-man race.

While Leme and Rossetto have stayed a few steps ahead this season, Brady Fielder will get home-field advantage to begin the final stretch of events starting Friday with Rattler Days.