PBR Cowboy Days is the first of the final five events before the World Finals, and no team or rider has pulled away in front yet.

The Nashville Stampede and Missouri Thunder tied at 14-6 each, and No. 1 Jose Vitor Leme and No. 2 Paulo Eduardo Rossetto are separated by just 2.55 points in the MVP race.

Further down the standings, the Austin Gamblers, Texas Rattlers, Florida Freedom, and New York Mavericks are each in excellent positions to make pushes of their own, and are primed and ready to do so.

The end of the PBR Teams season is closer than it appears, and teams are getting to be in make-it or break-it territory.

Missouri Thunder:

The Missouri Thunder became the new No. 1 team last weekend. They finished Anaheim a perfect 3-0 and improved to 14-6 overall.

They overtook the Nashville Stampede, who are also 14-6, by 93 points in the aggregate.

The Thunder have won 11 of their last 12 games. They scored at least three rides in seven of those wins. Furthermore, they’ve scored at least eight rides in each of their last four events.

Out of 100 total outs this season, the Thunder have covered a league-best 48 for 4247.05 total points. They’ve also averaged the third-best points per ride in the league at 88.48.

Paulo Eduardo Rossetto is now just 2.55 points behind Jose Vitor Leme in the MVP race. Rossetto has ridden his last 13 bulls in a row. One more, and he’d take sole ownership of the longest ride streak in Team Series history. Before Rossetto’s ride streak began, his career best was seven in a row; he’ll have the opportunity to double that on Friday.

If Rossetto covers all three bulls for the fifth event in a row, he’ll tie 2x PBR World Champion J.B. Mauney at 16 in a row for the 2nd-longest ride streak in PBR Premier Series History.

Furthermore, three of Rossetto’s last five rides have been for at least 90 points. He’s earned five of his career nine 90+ point rides this season.

Julio Cesar Marques has solidified himself as the Thunder’s next best rider. He’s ridden 10-of-20 this season and is 11th in the MVP race. He had his first 1-for-3 event showing last weekend since Freedom Days. Despite that, Cesar Marques has covered five of his last eight.

Macaulie Leather scored his fourth 90+ point ride last weekend. He scored a career-high 93.35 on King Tut, marking the best ride this Teams season.

The Thunder will face off against the Austin Gamblers on Friday in Game 1. Both teams finished Anaheim 3-0, and someone’s win streak will be snapped.

Nashville Stampede:

The Stampede are coming off their first undefeated weekend since Freedom Days over a month ago. While they lost their No. 1 spot in the rankings, the Stampede are still tied 14-6 with the Thunder. They trail Missouri by just 93 points.

The Stampede lead the league with three riders in the top-10 and five in the top-25.

Rogério Venâncio, Alan de Souza, and Riquelmi Silva are ranked 4th, 9th, and 10th in the MVP race. They’ve covered 31 of the team’s 47 rides this season combined.

However, none of Nashville’s top three has the best average score per ride on the team. That title belongs to No. 22 Gustavo Luiz da Silva, who’s covered seven bulls for 88.94 points per ride, the 10th-best average score in the league.

They’ll face the 11-9 Texas Rattlers in a top-5 matchup to start their weekend and try to reclaim their 1st-place position.

Carolina Cowboys:

The Cowboys are coming off their first negative-event finish of the season and fell two games behind 1st place. The Cowboys remain in 3rd place, but with a 12-8 record and the fifth-fewest total points in the league this season at 3008.

Carolina has been a bottom-half team in terms of total points all season, but despite coming off a 1-2 event finish, the Cowboys may have found some long-standing stability.

Their top two riders, No. 12 Thiago Salgado and No. 14 Guilherme Valleiras, have combined to ride eight of their last 13, and Salgado has the best average score in the top-25 at 89.44 points per ride.

Also, No. 37 Jess Lockwood has covered three of his last five since returning to a full-time role for Carolina.

The growth from those three hasn’t been without miscues from others, though.

Adriano Salgado began the season 5-for-6 and rode five in a row but has been 0-for-4 since.

2025 Championship MVP Clay Guiton has covered just a single bull in his 12 outs this season.

No. 40 Keyshawn Whitehorse was 0-for-2 last weekend, which was the first time he’d missed consecutive bulls since he started his season on a six-ride buckoff streak. He’s ridden 4-of-15 this season and has fallen behind his teammate Lockwood for the first time, despite Lockwood fielding six fewer outs.

The Cowboys have some ironing out to do, but they will have the best environment to do so in back home in Carolina for Cowboy Days this weekend. They’ll face the 8th-place Oklahoma Wildcatters, who are coming off the worst event finish of any team this season, and will look to start their home stand on the right foot.

Austin Gamblers:

For the first time this season, the Austin Gamblers are entering an event above .500. They currently sit in 4th place with an 11-9 record, earned off of their first 3-0 event finish of the season.

It’s the highest the Gamblers have been ranked all season, and it’s well deserved, as Austin has had a top-3 total point total for four of the last five weeks.

Their success wasn’t without a price, though, as Jose Vitor Leme’s historic 13-bull ride streak was snapped when he was bucked off in Game 2 last weekend.

It was worth it, though, as Leme remains 1st in the MVP race and has covered 17-of-20 this season.

Leme is still the only Gambler ranked in the top-20, but their next four, Sage Kimzey, Dalton Kasel, Kaique Pacheco, and Dener Barbosa, have combined for 26 of the team’s 47 rides.

Those four have all ridden at least 42% of their bulls this season, which is sustainable, but only for as long as Leme can continue riding like the MVP.

The Gamblers will begin their weekend with a monumental prove-it game against the top-seeded Missouri Thunder.

Texas Rattlers:

The Texas Rattlers have been the most bipolar team in the league this season. They haven’t finished back-to-back events with a winning record since they started 4-1. After their 4-1 start, the Rattlers finished the next five events 0-3, 2-1, 1-2, 3-0, and most recently, 1-2.

All of that has added up to an 11-9 record that’s put them in 5th place. If their back-and-forth trend continues, they’ll finish Cowboy Days with an overall record of either 13-10 or 14-9.

Despite the chaos, Brady Fielder and Daniel Keeping have been constants for the Rattlers.

Fielder’s covered 12-of-20 and is 3rd in the MVP race, while Keeping is 8th and has ridden 10-of-19. Both hold a top-10 highest average score in the league (minimum four rides). Fielder is 6th-best at 89.07, and Keeping is right behind him in 7th at 88.98.

They’re the only Rattlers ranked in the top-20, and their consistency and firepower have kept Texas’ season alive.

Help is on the way, though.

João Ricardo Vieira has gradually climbed the standings and is now 25th, having covered three of his last five. He’s ridden 7-of-15 in total this season.

Lucas Divino has covered 2-of-4 for the Rattlers since being traded from the Austin Gamblers. He’s provided exactly the kind of depth Texas has needed so far.

As a team, they have the highest average score in the league at 88.61 points per ride.

The Rattlers will be tested to begin their weekend against the 14-6 Nashville Stampede. It’ll be the third time this season these teams meet, and a tie-breaker, as the series is tied 1-1.

Arizona Ridge Riders:

The Arizona Ridge Riders have had a shaky last three events. They were in 2nd-place after Stampede Days, but have gone 3-6 since. They’re now 10-10 and in 6th place.

Arizona once had its top four riders all ranked inside the top-15; now, only Everton Natan da Silva is.

Da Silva has climbed to 5th in the MVP race, covering 11-of-16. He has the 3rd-best ride percentage in the league at 68.75%, trailing only Leme and Rossetto, who are each at 85%.

Although da Silva has put together an incredible season, the rest of Arizona’s core has struggled lately.

Eduardo Aparecido was once the team’s top-ranked rider but has fallen to 16th and has bucked off six of his last seven bulls.

No. 18 Elizmar Jeremias has bucked off his last six straight.

No. 24 Luciano De Castro has been serviceable and has covered 2-of-4 since returning to the lineup, but has been streaky this season. Twice already, he’s bucked off three in a row, and he’s bucked off his last two heading into Cowboy Days.

No other Ridge Rider has more than two rides this season.

However, they get an optimistic draw to start their weekend against the Kansas City Outlaws, who have lost seven in a row.

Florida Freedom:

The Freedom refuse to be put away and have continued to fight despite desperately missing 2x League MVP John Crimber.

They finished 2-1 last weekend for the second time in the last three events. However, their record in that time frame is 4-5.

The Freedom are in 7th place with a 9-11 record. Only one of their riders, Austin Richardson, is in the top-20 of the MVP race, and he’s in 7th.

Richardson has done an excellent job holding down the fort for the Freedom this season. He’s covered 10-of-20 so far and has the best average score of anyone in the top-10 at 89.21 points per ride.

Alex Cerqueira is 21st in the MVP race for the Freedom. He’s covered four of his last seven, and 8-of-19 overall.

Their next best rider, João Lucas Campos, has ridden 6-of-14 this season, but has bucked off his last four in a row and has fallen to 28th.

John Crimber hasn’t ridden since Day 2 of Freedom Days on August 8th, and won’t ride for the Freedom until at least October. He covered 2-of-6 before being injured, but remains the fourth-highest-ranked Freedom rider, in 48th place.

Ethan Winckler and Bruno Carvalho are right behind Crimber in 50th and 51st place and have combined to ride 4-of-23. They are the only other Freedom riders to have ridden at least two bulls.

Florida will have a good chance at starting their weekend with a win, though, as they’ll face the last-place New York Mavericks on Friday.

Oklahoma Wildcatters:

The Wildcatters are coming off the worst performance any team has had this season in Anaheim, where they scored just 2-of-15 rides and lost all three games.

That followed their best weekend of the season in Missouri, where they finished 3-0 and jumped from 9th place into 7th.

They now stand in 8th place with an 8-12 record, with the fewest rides (27), fewest points (2384.35), and are the only team without a rider covering at least 50% of his bulls.

Eduardo Matos leads the team in 15th place and has covered five of his last eight. He was the only rider to score for Oklahoma last weekend. All three buckoffs in that streak have been at least 6.95 seconds. Combined, Matos was less than a second from riding all eight. He’s covered 9-of-20 this season.

No. 27 Kaiden Loud has been serviceable this season, riding 6-of-14, but has covered just two of his last six.

To make matters worse, their next best rider, No. 34 Kase Hitt, suffered leg and ankle injuries last weekend that will keep him out of the lineup this weekend, if not longer.

They start their weekend against the home-team Cowboys, who are hungry to bounce back after their first 1-2 event of the season.

Kansas City Outlaws:

Despite the Wildcatters woes, the Outlaws have been the worst team in the League over the past three events. They’re 1-8 in their last nine games and enter Greensboro on a seven-game losing streak.

Sandro Batista has shouldered most of the heavy lifting for the Outlaws and is 6th in the MVP race. He’s covered 11-of-20 so far, but only two of his last seven.

Kansas City’s next four riders in the rankings are together between 33rd and 38th place. Only one of them, Hayden Welsh, in 35th, has covered at least 40% of his bulls. Welsh has ridden 5-of-8, but has been away from the Outlaws for the past two events.

The other three ranked around Welsh, Cassio Dias, Koltin Hevalow, and Eric Henrique Domingos, have combined to ride just 14-of-44.

The Outlaws will face the Arizona Ridge Riders on Friday, and both teams desperately need a win.

New York Mavericks:

Four of the Mavericks five wins have come in the last three events.

While they are still in last place with a 5-15 record, they won more games last weekend (one) than the 9th-place Outlaws and 8th-place Wildcatters did combined.

New York’s two-best riders, No. 13 Marco Rizzo and No. 20 Mauricio Gulla Moreira, have each covered just two of their last six bulls.

However, Bob Mitchell returned from injury last weekend and covered 2-of-3. He’s now 3-of-7 on the season. That kind of consistency is exactly what New York needs from its depth to climb the standings.

New York needed more from Leandro Zampollo and Leonardo Castro, and they delivered, with both scoring a ride last weekend. They’ve combined to ride just 8-of-30 this season, however. They’ll need more once again this weekend.

The Mavericks are just one win away from jumping the Kansas City Outlaws in the standings and escaping last place. They’ll have to earn it, though, against a resilient but beatable Florida Freedom team. The season series between the two teams is tied 1-1.