PUEBLO, Colo. – We’re just one week away from the PBR Team Series Championship, taking place Nov. 4-6 in Las Vegas, and it’s hard to believe the inaugural Team Series season is already nearing its conclusion.

Eight founding teams and 10 events gave us countless moments of elation, heartbreak and everything in between.

Before the season reaches its climax in Las Vegas, CBS will be airing a season recap, PBR Team Series Road to Vegas, on Oct. 30 at 3 p.m. ET (check your local listings).

“I wrote the plan (for teams) in 2007, and to be perfectly honest, I never in my wildest dreams thought it’d be as successful as it has been in the time that it’s taken us to get right here where we stand today,” said PBR CEO and Commissioner Sean Gleason.

Road to Vegas takes a look back at each event this season, from Cheyenne to Glendale, reliving every walk-off ride and agonizing defeat. It takes fans behind the scenes with exclusive interviews with coaches and riders, sets up where things stand heading into Vegas, and shows why exactly this season was so special.

“I’ve been doing this for 23 years, and it’s the first time in a long time that I get goosebumps at some of these great rides, especially those walk-off homers and those winners,” Gleason said. “It’s just incredible. It’s such a great sporting experience. It’s special.”

Read on for a peek at what some of the PBR Team Series coaches had to say about their riders and the season, and tune in on Oct. 30 for Road to Vegas.

Missouri Thunder head coach Ross Coleman on the team’s surprising star

Here’s some trivia for you: the first qualified ride in PBR Team Series history was notched by Adriano Salgado of the Missouri Thunder.

Salgado wasn’t on anybody’s radar as a team leader, as the 24-year-old has competed sparingly on the premier series since making his U.S. debut in 2019. But the free agent signing stayed hot after his first qualified ride, going 13-for-25 (52%) to lead the Thunder in qualified rides.

“We got him as a free agent, first off. He probably would’ve been drafted if everybody would’ve known that he didn’t have surgery on his knee,” Coleman said. “But looking at what he’s done, it’s really impressed me. First off, he’s lost quite a bit of weight, and second off, he showed up, and he knows how to ride. He knows how to get after it. But it’s cool to see how much his game is elevated. He’s a superstar in the making.”

Nashville Stampede head coach Justin McBride on why his squad is still in it

The Nashville Stampede had a disappointing first season, going 7-20-1 to finish the regular season ranked No. 8. Their performance is far from what McBride had hoped for – and expected from – his team.

“Not even close,” he said. “We expected to win every game coming into this, and that obviously has not happened. But I do feel like the guys and the team has gotten stronger week after week after week.”

In fact, the Stampede had their best performance of the season in the finale, winning two of three games to finish third overall at Ridge Rider Days.

Their path in Vegas won’t be easy – they take on the No. 3 Oklahoma Freedom in Round 1 on Nov. 4 – but with all eight teams making the playoffs, anything is possible.

“Look, we’ve got World Champions,” McBride said. “We’ve got World Finals event winners. We’ve got guys that know how to compete on a big stage, and we’re just going to keep preparing and try to be at our very best come that moment.”

Kansas City Outlaws head coach J.W. Hart on his team’s resilience

It hasn’t been an easy go for the Kansas City Outlaws. After a slow start to the season, first-round draft pick Dalton Kasel was traded to the Austin Gamblers, leaving the team without the former face of the franchise and scrambling to fill a large hole in the lineup.

But the Outlaws persevered, finishing a season-best second at Rattler Days in Fort Worth, Texas, and making head coach J.W. Hart proud.

“I don’t know that there’s a word out there (to describe it),” Hart said. “Just the resilience they’ve had through the bumps and the bruises and the breaks and the tears, and then just the misfortunes of having tied games but then losing on scores, and just little things like that that’s kept us from winning a bunch more games. And that’s easy to start snowballing on you, but it’s unbelievable how these young kids haven’t let it bother them. They keep looking forward to the next game, taking a step forward. They’re starting to really get the belief, though, that they are as good as I think they are and I say they are. So when they really start believing that, with each day passing, they’re getting better.”

Austin Gamblers head coach Michael Gaffney on the strength of his roster

It’s been just about a dream season for the Austin Gamblers. Team captain Jose Vitor Leme won the $50,000 bonus and MVP award thanks to his whopping 19 qualified rides, and the squad clinched the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye for the Team Series Championship thanks to its 16-12 record and 59.5 bonus points.

“They have bought in,” said head coach Michael Gaffney. “Just a tremendous group of guys that I have in the locker room. I’m so pleased, and obviously, just a handful of weeks ago, picking up Ramon de Lima after Jose went down the second time this year, and then now the acquisition with Dalton Kasel. I just couldn’t be more happy to have him in the locker room.”

It’s a stacked roster, to be sure, but the motor that makes the team go is two-time World Champion Leme.

“I think we know, obviously, from the past, what this guy brings,” Gaffney said. “It’s the focus, the laser focus. He’s got one goal in mind, and that’s to be in that pressure situation every time and to deliver. And then when you put him in the locker room with guys like Dalton Kasel, a Ramon de Lima, Ezekiel Mitchell, they’re going to raise their game. And it’s a great thing for me being the coach because you just sit back, and you can kind of pick apart certain things they may be doing wrong and that type of thing, but you just leave them alone, let them enjoy what they do, and they go out and do it.”

Photo courtesy of Todd Brewer/Bull Stock Media