PUEBLO, Colo. – It’s safe to say that expectations for the Nashville Stampede are sky-high heading into the 2023 PBR Camping World Team Series season, which kicks off on July 24-25 at Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming (10 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network).

After all, they swept through the 2022 PBR Team Series Championship in Las Vegas in November and have made some key additions to that roster.

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The only problem is that the Stampede finished eighth out of eight teams in the 2022 regular season, going 7-20-1 – 8.5 games behind the No. 1 Austin Gamblers and 4.5 games behind the No. 7 Kansas City Outlaws.

So the Stampede are the defending champions and the reigning worst team in the league. The math isn’t really mathing, but consider: the Stampede had more qualified rides during the regular season (47) than both the Oklahoma Freedom (44) and the Missouri Thunder (46). In the first five events of the regular season, they averaged 3.6 rides per event. In the last five events, that number went up to 5.8.

Even though their placements and win-loss record look bleak, much of it was simply the misfortune of opposing teams doing incredibly well. Yes, the Stampede finished seventh three times (Anaheim, Nashville, Winston-Salem) and eighth three times (Austin, Ridgedale, Fort Worth). But they often didn’t perform that much worse than the other teams. In Ridgedale, in fact, they were tied for the most qualified rides (six), more than the Texas Rattlers, who won the event.

The Stampede saved their best results for the end of the season, going 2-1 in Glendale, Arizona, to place third in the regular-season finale. Then came Vegas, where they went 4-0 with 11 rides in 20 outs (55%) to win when it counted most.

“We certainly went into the season with a plan, and it didn’t come off exactly how we had intended, but it finished the way we wanted it to,” Stampede General Manager Tina Battock said on PBR Now earlier this year. “It was definitely a test of all of our mettle and our dedication and our perseverance.”

Can they keep up that momentum in 2023?

Returning Stampede riders: Kaique Pacheco, Dener Barbosa, Silvano Alves, Joao Henrique Lucas, Matt Triplett

New Stampede riders: Jess Lockwood, Mason Taylor, Ednelio Almeida, Bruno Carvalho, Kaiden Loud

Looming large is the loss of Ryan Dirteater, who returned to retirement after winning a long-coveted gold buckle.

But this Stampede squad looks far stronger than the team that won it all last season, and other teams should be scared.

Returning, of course, are World Champions Kaique Pacheco and Silvano Alves, who have four individual world titles between them.

Pacheco went 16-for-36 (44%) for the Stampede last season as the team’s best-performing rider, finishing ninth in the MVP race – low for his standards. He’s coming off an Unleash The Beast campaign that could have easily seen him add another gold buckle to his collection had he not fractured his right tibia and fibula at the second-to-last regular-season event. Despite not competing at the PBR World Finals, he remained No. 1 in the world until the second-to-last day of the event.

Pacheco, however, begins the PBR Teams season still on the shelf. The Stampede will want to get him back quickly.

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Alves, meanwhile, was a mid-season pickup for the Stampede last year and turned into one of the team’s pillars, going 8-for-20 (40%). While he isn’t the qualified ride machine he was in his heyday, Alves provides veteran leadership and clutch rides when it matters – including in the championship game.

While Dener Barbosa was a member of the Stampede last season, he missed the entire 2022 campaign due to injury. This season, he’s finally healthy, and the reigning champs gain one of the most dangerous riders in the game. Barbosa was in the 2023 World Championship race until the final day of the season, ultimately placing ninth at the World Finals and No. 6 in the world.

Also returning is Joao Henrique Lucas, who was the Stampede’s third-best rider in the MVP standings, going 9-for-22 (40%). Perhaps indicative of the Stampede’s new depth, Lucas begins the season on the reserve roster.

The Stampede lost Thiago Salgado in the offseason in a trade with the Oklahoma Freedom, but the return was absolutely huge – two-time World Champion Jess Lockwood now suits up for the blue and yellow. Lockwood is a bit of a wildcard due to his struggle with injuries since winning the world title in 2019. He missed the entire 2022 Teams season and competed in just five Unleash The Beast events in 2023. He begins the season on Injured Reserve, but if he can return to form, he’ll be a powerful weapon for the Stampede to wield.

But the biggest move the Stampede made in the offseason, in terms of immediate impact, was trading the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft to the Carolina Cowboys for Mason Taylor and Ednelio Almeida.

Taylor finished seventh in the MVP race for the Cowboys last season, going 14-for-33 (42%). He missed a significant chunk of the UTB season due to injury, competing in just 13 events and finishing the season ranked No. 26. But if we know Taylor, he’s going to come out swinging this season with something to prove.

“I feel great (about it),” Taylor said after the trade in March. “I think that me being able to go to (head coach Justin) McBride, not only will it help the Nashville Stampede, but it’ll actually help me as an individual. So I’m super excited and can’t wait.”

Almeida only had one out in PBR Teams last season, spending time on Carolina’s reserve roster, and competed in four Unleash The Beast events in 2023. His potential is still very much untapped, but he could thrive with the guidance of McBride, Alves and Pacheco.

The question, though, is whether or not Taylor and Almeida combined will produce as much as Sage Kimzey, who the Cowboys selected with the No. 1 draft pick. Either way, they’re a significant upgrade over last year’s roster.

“We certainly have our eyes on a repeat,” Battock said. “We want to make sure we defend our title, so that’s first and foremost, and maybe be a little bit more competitive along the way and win some weekends. So we’ll set our goals once we have our roster set and figure out how we’re going to get there bull by bull.”

The Stampede kick things off in Cheyenne against the Missouri Thunder and the Texas Rattlers. They host their homestand, Stampede Days, at Bridgestone Arena on Aug. 18-20, where they will take on the Thunder, the Kansas City Outlaws and the Arizona Ridge Riders.

Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media