The PBR Team Series returns Thursday night for PBR Ridge Rider Days in Arizona with three of the top four teams tied in the standings.

Three of the bottom four teams are also tied and terrified of falling into last place.

Not much time is left for teams to make a late-season turnaround, and some are already in the middle of one.

The home team, Arizona Ridge Riders, however, are stuck in the middle of the standings. They will need their first positive weekend since Stampede Days to stop falling further.

Here’s everything you need to know before Ridge Rider Days kicks off:

Missouri Thunder:

The Missouri Thunder will enter Ridge Rider Days with their largest lead of the season over 2nd place. The Thunder, at 18-8, lead the Gamblers, Stampede, and Cowboys, who are all tied at 16-10 by two games each.

As a team, the Thunder have covered a league-leading 63 rides so far, a third of which belongs to Paulo Eduardo Rossetto. He’s covered 21-of-26 this season and is 2nd in the MVP race, 98.95 points behind Jose Vitor Leme. Rossetto is 4-for-6 in his last two events, which by his standards this season is sub-par.

Julio Cesar Marques, Felipe Furlan, and Macaulie Leather are now all ranked inside the Top 25. Leather has taken the biggest jump recently; he achieved a career-long four-bull ride streak in Game 2 in Fort Worth before bucking off in Game 3. Leather has the best average ride score on the team at 89.01 points per ride.

However, the Thunder have only five riders on their roster who have scored more than a single ride this season. With just three events left and a two-game lead over three teams, the Thunder have some breathing room to develop their depth. But they’ll need to be careful, as 1st place is theirs to lose.

They’ll begin their event against the surging New York Mavericks on Thursday, who have won six of their last seven games.

Austin Gamblers:

No team has been better than the Austin Gamblers have been over the last four events. The Gamblers have a 10-2 record since Thunder Days and have climbed all the way into 2nd place with a 16-10 record.

Jose Vitor Leme hasn’t slowed down at all; he’s still 1st in the MVP race and has ridden 22-of-25 this season, including his last six in a row.

It’s been the rest of the roster that has taken steps forward in the last month.

Dalton Kasel is 20th in the MVP race and the second-highest-ranked Gambler. He’s 10-for-20 this season, but has covered five of his last eight. Sage Kimzey is 9-of-19 this year and is ranked 23rd. He’s ridden four of his last seven and has been 90+ in each of his last two rides. Kaique Pacheco is 25th and has covered 9-of-19, but also five of his last nine. Finally, Dener Barbosa has covered six of his last eight and is now 8-for-17 this season. He’s in 31st place. The Gamblers are now one of just two teams to have five riders each with at least eight scores this season.

Only two other Gamblers have scored this season, although neither has scored more than twice. Much like the Thunder, the Gamblers would appreciate some development from their depth as they close out the season.

The Gamblers enter Glendale on a five-game win streak and will start their event with a good shot at another win against the home team, Arizona Ridge Riders, on Thursday.

Nashville Stampede:

The Nashville Stampede are coming off their worst event yet this season, but they’re still in a great position to finish strong. The Stampede went 0-3 in Fort Worth for the first time this season and fell to 3rd place, but are tied 16-10 with the Gamblers and Cowboys.

However, the Stampede have, arguably, the strongest starting five in the league. They’re the only team to have five riders with at least nine scores this season.

Rogério Venâncio has emerged as the team’s best rider and has jumped to 6th in the MVP race. He’s covered 14-of-26 this season, and just last weekend he covered Fury for a career-high 90.05 points.

Gustavo Luiz da Silva has held the team together recently, though. He’s covered seven of his last nine, which has shot him up to 24th in the MVP race. He’s covered 9-of-19 this season

Alan de Souza, Riquelmi Silva, and Daniel Feitosa have taken steps back as of late, though.

De Souza missed off of his bulls in Fort Worth, making it just the second event this season de Souza went scoreless.

Feitosa hasn’t covered consecutive bulls since mid-August.

But Silva’s struggles have been the most costly. He bucked off eight of 10 in his last four events. Four times in the last four events, the Stampede lost a game by a ride after Silva bucked off.

Silva was the team’s lights-out closer to begin the season, and until he can rediscover that clutch gene, the Stampede’s ceiling is capped.

Regardless, the Stampede are in 3rd place and remain a contender. They’ll get a favorable matchup against the last-place Wildcatters to start their event.

Carolina Cowboys:

The Carolina Cowboys’ roster has been resilient all season, but finally, it seems they are at full strength.

Although the Cowboys dropped from 3rd to 4th after Fort Worth, they’re still in a three-way tie at 16-10 with the Gamblers and Stampede.

Guilherme Valleiras is coming off his first perfect 3-for-3 weekend this season, which he capped off with a career-high 89.75 on Smooth Whiskey. He leads the team in 9th place with 13-of-21 covered this season.

Jess Lockwood had his best weekend yet in Fort Worth, covering 2-of-2, including a 93.9-point ride on Lights Out, which is the best score of the 2026 season.

Thiago Salgado and Adriano Salgado haven’t been their best recently. They each covered 2-of-5 in their last two events.

But the most important rider for the Cowboys is Clay Guiton, and it seems he has finally arrived. The 2025 Teams Championship MVP had started his season 1-for-15, but covered 2-of-3 last weekend.

The Cowboys have at least 11 fewer rides than anyone else in the Top 4, but have maintained a similar record. More consistency from Clay Guiton can raise the Cowboys’ ceiling and turn them from a great team into a championship-caliber team.

Guiton and the Cowboys will face the Rattlers in Game 1 in a must-win outing. With three events left, the Cowboys can’t afford many more losses if they want to enter the Teams Championship in 1st.

Texas Rattlers:

The Texas Rattlers continue to struggle with their top-heaviness. Brady Fielder and Daniel Keeping have continued to shine, ranked 3rd and 7th in the MVP race. But the next-best Rattler, João Ricardo Vieira, is ranked 33rd.

Those three are the only Rattlers who’ve scored more than three times this season, and they combined for 37 of the team’s 47 total scores. The other 10 of the Rattlers’ 47 scores came from another six riders.

As it stands, that production is unlikely to translate to a Championship; however, it has translated to a 14-12 record for 5th place.

Fielder and Keeping have truly been exceptional, though. The Rattlers are one of two teams with two riders in the Top 10, the other being the Stampede. But Fielder and Keeping are collectively ranked higher than Nashville’s two. Fielder has ridden 17-of-26 this season, including nine of his last 11, and is squarely 3rd in the MVP race. Keeping is 13-for-25 this season and scored his fifth 90+ point ride last weekend, a 90.25 on Fury.

Keeping and Fielder have the best and second-best average scores per ride of anyone in the Top 10 at 89.16 and 88.98. As a team, the Rattlers have the best average score per ride in the league at 88.68.

They’re almost certainly too far away from catching 1st place at this point, but they’re just two wins behind three teams, including the Carolina Cowboys, who they’ll take on Thursday night.

Arizona Ridge Riders:

The Arizona Ridge Riders began their season strong, making it to second place. However, they have since lost 11 of 15 games and find themselves in 6th place with an 11-15 record. Over the last two events, the Ridge Riders have scored a combined six rides total split between Everton Natan da Silva and Eduardo Aparecido.

Da Silva scored four of those, two in each of the last two events, whereas Aparecido scored once in both events.

Da Silva and Aparecido lead the team in 4th and 15th place, respectively. The Ridge Riders used to have four riders in the Top 15, but Luciano De Castro has missed his last six in a row, and Elizmar Jeremias has bucked off his last 12.

Those four make up 41 of the team’s 47 total rides this season.

Things keep getting worse for Arizona, but they’ll have the home crowd behind them this time. Of the seven teams who’ve hosted an event this season, five finished with a positive record.

However, Arizona will face the No. 2 Gamblers to start their home stand. It would be a statement win if the Ridge Riders overcame the odds.

Kansas City Outlaws:

The Outlaws have found a late-season spark that has kept them from last place. They’ve gone 2-1 in each of their last two events and scored 14-of-30 rides.

Hayden Welsh returned last weekend and scored 1-of-3. Welsh was greatly missed in his absence; he’s one of two Outlaws to ride more than 50% of their bulls. The other is Sandro Batista, who leads the team, having ridden 15-of-26 on the year. He’s 5th in the MVP race and has covered six of his last nine bulls.

Along with No. 22 Eric Henrique Domingos, those three make up the Outlaws’ top-three riders this season.

Unfortunately, the Outlaws will need to lean on those three even more than usual now as both Koltin Hevalow and Cassio Dias sustained injuries that will keep them out of the rest of the season. Hevalow will miss the remainder of the season with a broken femur, and Dias will be out until at least the PBR Teams Championship with a lower-body injury.

Bruno Carvalho and Maikon Calixton Rocha will start in their places on Thursday when the Outlaws take on the 9th-place Florida Freedom.

The Outlaws sit in 7th place, but are tied at 10-16 with the Mavericks and the Freedom.

New York Mavericks:

Only the Austin Gamblers have won as many games as the New York Mavericks have over the last two events, at five. The Mavericks dug themselves out of last place for the first time this season in Fort Worth.

Hudson Bolton led the team in his return from injury, covering 3-of-3. It was his first start of the year and only his second event appearance.

Bob Mitchell has also recently emerged for the team and has covered five of his last eight since returning in Anaheim.

No. 11 Marco Rizzo, the team’s highest-ranked rider, has ridden his last five in a row and is now 13-for-26 on the year.

While Leandro Zampollo and Leonardo Castro have continued to struggle, scoring a combined 8-for-38, the Mavericks have shown excellent growth at the right time.

They’ll get another test, however, against the No. 1 Missouri Thunder on Thursday to start their campaign in Glendale.

Florida Freedom:

The Florida Freedom, still without 2x MVP John Crimber, have reached a new low. They’ve dropped to 9th place with a 10-16 record and have scored a league-low five rides over the last two events.

The entire team has struggled, but their recent slide coincides with their best rider, Austin Richardson’s six-bull buck-off streak. Richardson hadn’t missed more than three bulls in a row this season, and his performance determined the team’s floor.

The Freedom are now the only team without a rider in the Top 15.

João Lucas Campos has the best ride percentage on the team at 42.11%. However, he’s ridden 8-of-19 and ranks just 28th in the MVP race. Alex Cerqueira also has eight rides, but 23 outs.

Richardson, Lucas Campos, and Cerqueira make up 26 of the team’s 38 total rides. The other 12 are split between another six riders.

The Freedom are just one win and three rides ahead of the last-place Wildcatters. While they’re tied with the Mavericks and Outlaws at 10-16, they’re 10 rides behind them. No team has ever finished last place in the regular season after finishing 1st the season before, and currently, the Freedom are at risk of doing so.

They’ll face the Outlaws in a crucial matchup that would put the winner potentially two games ahead of last place.

Oklahoma Wildcatters:

The Wildcatters scored only two rides for the second event this season in Fort Worth. They’ve scored a league-low 35 total rides this season and fell into last place for the first time.

Eduardo Matos and Kaiden Loud have done what they can to hold the team together. They’ve combined for 21 of the team’s 35 rides this season.

Matos sits 10th in the MVP race, while Loud is 26th. The team’s next three best, Kase Hitt, Winy dos Santos, and Trace Redd have combined to ride 12-of-51 this season.

The Wildcatters made a head coaching change, however. They parted ways with former Head Coach Greg Rhodes and promoted Assistant Coach Shawn Ramirez to Head Coach for the remainder of the 2026 season.

Ramirez and the rest of the Wildcatters squad, despite being dead last, have the opportunity to reach a franchise-record 12 regular-season wins in these last three events.

However, they will start their weekend against the 16-10 Nashville Stampede.