The PBR Team Series touches down in the Empire State Friday for the second-to-last event of the regular season: Maverick Days.

Time is running out for teams to gather themselves before the regular season ends and Championship campaigns begin.

The Thunder sit comfortably in 1st place with a four-game lead, though the rest of the teams are still scrambling for position.

It’s been a wild Teams season so far, and it’s not slowing down. Here’s what you need to know about PBR Maverick Days:

Missouri Thunder:

The Thunder won three games last weekend in Arizona and jumped to a season-high four-game lead over the 2nd-4th-ranked teams, who are all 17-12.

The Thunder have won 18 of their last 21 games, bringing them to 21-8 with a league-high 70 rides. The Thunder have stood head and shoulders above the rest, and with just six games left in the regular season, it’s unlikely any team behind them will surpass them or even catch up. If they exit Mavericks days with the same four-game lead they have now, then they’ll officially lock up the No. 1 seed heading into the Teams Championship.

With 70 rides, the Thunder have five more than the Gamblers, who have the 2nd-most.

The Thunder’s top four riders, Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, Julio Cesar Marques, Felipe Furlan, and Macaulie Leather, have combined to ride 59 of those 70. No other team has more than 53 rides amongst their own top four

23 of those rides belong to Rossetto. He’s 23-for-29 on the year, and is still in 2nd place, a ride behind Jose Vitor Leme.

The Thunder’s biggest challenge for the rest of the season lies in Rossetto surpassing Leme and closing out a successful MVP campaign. It would be Rossetto’s first MVP of his career, and his first piece of Premier Series hardware.

He hasn’t yet gotten out of Leme’s shadow this season. Rossetto is a ride behind Leme, but at a 91.60-point deficit. More than likely, Rossetto will need to outscore Leme by two rides or score a career-high, as his current high is 91.50.

The Thunder will look to grow their already franchise-record season as they start their weekend against the last-place Oklahoma Wildcatters.

Austin Gamblers:

The Gamblers are coming off their worst event finish of the season in Arizona. They scored just three total rides and finished 1-2. Luckily, the Stampede and Cowboys also finished 1-2, and the Gamblers kept their 2nd-place spot. They’re in the same position they were a week ago, except they’re now four games behind the 1st-place Thunder, and it’s unlikely the Gamblers, or anyone else, will catch them.

The Gamblers are now playing for a Day 1 bye at the Teams Championship, and must remain in the Top 3 to earn it.

Jose Vitor Leme is still the MVP leader, and scored two of the Gamblers’ three rides last weekend. But still, no other Gambler has caught up to even half of Leme’s 24 rides.

Sage Kimzey and Dalton Kasel have 10 each, and Kaique Pacheco has nine. They sit 20th, 25th, and 27th respectively. Leme has covered 85.71% of his bulls this season; no other Gambler has covered more than 47.5% of theirs. Leme may remain their only top-ranked rider for the rest of the season, but as a team, the Gamblers have the 2nd-most rides in the league at 65.

They can’t afford another slip-up like in Arizona, especially not after going on a 10-2 run leading up to the event. They’ve come too far to slow down now, but as last weekend showed, Leme can’t be the only Gambler riding above a 50% rate.

They’ll start their weekend with a tough matchup against the 7th-place Outlaws, who have won seven of their last nine games.

Nashville Stampede:

The Stampede sit 17-12 and are in 3rd place with 63 rides on the year. All 63 rides came from Nashville’s five best riders, making them the highest-scoring and most consistent starting lineup in the league.

The Stampede are still in 3rd, tied in record with the Gamblers and Cowboys. They are three rides behind 2nd, and a loss away from 4th. They’ll be fighting to keep their Top 3 spot and earn the Day 1 bye at the Teams Championship.

Out of their five scorers, only Rogério Venâncio has covered above 50% of his bulls, and only 51.72%. Venâncio has covered 15-of-29 this season and is currently 7th in the MVP race. He’s the only Stampede rider in the Top 10. Alan de Souza, Riquelmi Silva, and Daniel Feitosa each spent time inside the Top 10, although they’re now all inside the Top 20.

Silva bounced back last weekend, covering 2-of-3 for the first time since Gambler Days back in August. De Souza and Feitosa have slipped as of late, covering a combined two bulls over the last two events.

It’s been Gustavo Luiz da Silva who has delivered. His recent 8-for-11 streak has kept the Stampede afloat.

They’ll need all hands on deck on Friday, though, as they face the 4th-place Carolina Cowboys. The winner keeps 3rd and gets a full-game lead over 4th. This match could very well be the difference between who gets a Championship Day 1 bye and who doesn’t.

Carolina Cowboys:

Like the Gamblers and Stampede, the Cowboys have a 17-12 record, but sit in 4th. They have scored 54 rides this season, nine fewer than the Stampede, making it hard for the Cowboys to rely on anything but wins to climb the standings.

They have riders who they can rely on, though. Carolina can now fully trust Clay Guiton as he covered 2-of-3 for the second straight weekend. They trust Guilherme Valleiras, who has covered 5-of-6 in the last two events and leads the team ranked 8th in the MVP race. The Cowboys trust Jess Lockwood, too, who’s covered his last five in a row.

They also trust Thiago and Adriano Salgado. However, they have covered a combined eight bulls in the last five events. The brothers started their seasons red hot for the Cowboys, but have cooled off significantly since.

Regardless, the Cowboys are just now getting to full strength, and the timing is perfect.

They’ll face the Nashville Stampede in perhaps the most crucial match of their season. The loser gets a game behind 3rd, and with only five games left afterwards, it’s as close to a must-win as it gets for the Cowboys, who would appreciate a Day 1 bye en route to a Title defense.

Arizona Ridge Riders:

The Arizona Ridge Riders became the first host team this season to go undefeated at home. That performance saved Arizona from a nearly two-month-long slide down the standings and stabilized them in 5th place. They’re only a game above 7th, but have momentum for the first time in a long time.

The Ridge Riders made a trade this last week, sending Luciano De Castro to the Florida Freedom for Alex Cerqueira. Both riders had spent their entire Teams careers with the teams that traded them.

De Castro had a few solid streaks this season, but he bucked off his last six in a row. He’s covered 7-of-19 this year, whereas Cerqueira has covered 9-of-26. Unfortunately, Cerqueira has the worst ride percentage of anyone in the Top 35. However, compared to De Castro, Cerqueira has had a healthier, more consistent Teams career.

Arizona understands it needs to supplement the floor of its roster’s scoring output, and Cerqueira helps. The emergence of Cody Jesus, who scored his first two rides of the season last weekend, also helps strengthen their floor.

Elizmar Jeremias stepped up last weekend too, covering 2-of-3. It brought his season total to 10-of-26.

Everton Natan da Silva has continued to lead the squad. He’s ridden 12 of his last 15, 17-for-25 overall, and sits 5th in the MVP race with the 3rd-best ride percentage in the league.

Conversely, Eduardo Aparecido has covered three of his last 15.

Arizona needs its riders to complement each other, especially to end the season. That Day 1 bye isn’t out of the picture for the Ridge Riders yet, but they’ll need some collective firepower from their roster in order to climb the standings.

They’ll have the opportunity to get back to .500 against the home-team Mavericks on Friday.

Texas Rattlers:

It was the Brady Fielder and Daniel Keeping show once again in Arizona, and despite the help from Jean Carlos Teodoro, the Rattlers suffered their second 0-3 finish of the year.

The duo of Fielder and Keeping got stronger after last weekend, despite the team getting worse. Fielder remains 3rd in the MVP race, while Keeping jumped to 6th. The Rattlers are now the only team with two riders in the Top 10, but have a 14-15 record and are in 6th place. Fielder and Keeping have combined for 33 of the team’s 51 total rides this year. As a team, 51 rides is third worst in the league.

Fielder is six rides behind Leme in the MVP race, and with six games remaining, he’s practically eliminated from MVP contention.

The help hasn’t arrived for Texas, as no other Rattlers have ridden more than 35% of their bulls so far.

It seems like the Rattlers will ride out the rest of their season, seeing how far Fielder and Keeping can take them. But as is, this roster is unsuited to compete for a Championship.

They’ll take on the Florida Freedom on Friday, who are struggling worse than the Rattlers.

Kansas City Outlaws:

The Kansas City Outlaws have gone 7-2 across the last three events and earned their first 3-0 event finish of the season in Arizona last weekend.

Six riders scored, with Sandro Batista leading with three rides of his own. Batista is 4th in the MVP race and has covered nine of his last 12 bulls.

As a team, the Outlaws have combined for 56 total rides, good for 4th-most in the league. However, they have the 3rd-worst average score per ride in the league at 87.91.

At 13-16 on the season and in 7th place, the Outlaws are riding to remain outside of the bottom three and avoid the 8th-10th double-elimination game during Day 1 of the Championship.

With Koltin Hevalow and Cassio Dias out for most likely the rest of the season, more of the scoring responsibility falls on Hayden Welsh, Eric Henrique Domingos, and the team’s depth. That depth delivered last weekend, and if they can do it again in New York, then the Outlaws may be in for a sneaky Championship run. Three of the four Teams Champions finished the regular season in 5th place or worse, and that’s exactly where the Outlaws can end up.

They’ll need to start their weekend on a good note to do so, which won’t be easy, as they’ll first take on Jose Vitor Leme and the Austin Gamblers on Friday.

New York Mavericks:

Despite being in 8th place, the New York Mavericks tied their franchise record of 11 wins last weekend. This weekend, they’ll have the opportunity to set a new franchise record of 12 wins, or more, in front of the home crowd in Belmont.

Marco Rizzo has solidified himself as the team’s leader and has ridden 15-of-25 for 10th in the MVP race. He’s ridden seven of his last eight bulls.

Mauricio Gulla Moreira is the only other Maverick who’s covered at least seven bulls this year, with 10. However, he’s ridden just two of his last nine bulls.

Hudson Bolton and Bob Mitchell have been productive in their returns, but each went 0-for-3 last weekend.

The Mavericks are 11-18 and closer to last place than 7th. While they may reach a franchise-record win total, they are still in a rough position as the season comes to a close.

The home team Mavericks will have the chance to make franchise history with a win over the Ridge Riders Friday. A loss gets them dangerously close to falling into last place.

Florida Freedom:

After another dismal performance in Arizona, the Florida Freedom fell to 9th place with an 11-18 record. They scored just three rides in Arizona, bringing their season total to a league-low 41 rides. They’re still without John Crimber too, and he most likely won’t ride until the Championship.

Despite all their troubles, the organization decided to trade away their 2nd-best rider this season, Alex Cerqueira, to the Arizona Ridge Riders for Luciano De Castro. De Castro has scored seven rides to Cerqueira’s nine this season, but has two Top 11 finishes in his Teams career, whereas Cerqueira has never finished better than 19th. Cerqueira has been the most inefficient rider in the Top 35 this season as well. The Freedom are trading away some of their floor and, in return, are getting a potential top rider to pair with Crimber that will raise their ceiling this season and next. De Castro has bucked off his last six, though, but will start this Friday as the opener for the Freedom against the top-heavy Texas Rattlers.

Oklahoma Wildcatters:

Promoting Shawn Ramirez from Assistant to Head Coach proved beneficial for the Wildcatters as they finished with a season-high seven rides in Arizona. That bumped their season ride total up to 42, and for the first time this season, the Wildcatters are not the lowest-scoring team.

Five different riders scored for Oklahoma last weekend, led by Eduardo Matos and Brock Poulin, who were both 2-for-3. Matos got back into the Top 10, now 9th, and is 15-for-29 this season. Poulin, however, scored his first and second rides of the season, including a 91.90-point score on The Paint. It’s the league’s fifth-best ride this season.

Kaiden Loud, Winy dos Santos, and Alex Marcilio also found eight seconds in Arizona.

The Wildcatters, who are in 10th place with a 10-19 record, can’t do much to save their regular season. However, there are three things they can do: match and break their franchise record of 11 wins, average at least five rides across the next two events (their season average is 4.2 per event), and get out of last place.

It’s all easier said than done, especially considering they’ll start their Maverick Days against the No. 1 Thunder. But they still have the opportunity to end their season with newfound confidence and validation that they can carry through the Teams Championship and into next season.