PUEBLO, Colo. – Raise your hand if you had “Jose Vitor Leme leads the MVP race” on your 2023 PBR Camping World Team Series bingo card.

Probably a pretty safe bet.

Now, raise your hand if you had “Cassio Dias chases an MVP title.”

Dias may not have been a pre-season favorite, but as the 2023 season approaches the final regular-season event – Rattler Days in Fort Worth, Texas – he’s the only remaining challenger to Leme in the MVP race.

The MVP award is given to the rider who finishes the PBR Team Series with the highest individual aggregate score during the regular season. The winner will receive $100,000, up from $50,000 last season.

Last season, of course, Leme ran away with the MVP award with a 19-for-25 (76%) season.

The two-time PBR World Champion picked up right where he left off for the Austin Gamblers in 2023, heading into Rattler Days having gone 18 for 26 (69.2%) with five 90-point rides this season for 1,588 points. He’s led the MVP race for all but one week this season and leads the league with three event MVP awards (Cheyenne, Anaheim, and Oklahoma City).

But the Kansas City Outlaws’ Dias, who made his U.S. debut at the 2022 Challenger Series Championship and has competed in a grand total of two Unleash The Beast events, is right on his tail.

MVP Standings 1. Jose Vitor Leme – 18 rides | 1,510.5 2. Cassio Dias – 16 rides | -170.25 3. Dalton Kasel – 13 rides | -444.25 4. Cooper Davis – 13 rides | -465 5. Silvano Alves – 12 rides | -547

Having gone 16-for-22 (72%) this season, Dias is still very much alive. In fact, Dias has matched Leme with five 90-point rides, has won two event MVP titles, and bumped Leme out of the top spot in the MVP race for one week.

With three outs remaining this season – potentially more, should the Outlaws go to extra outs in Fort Worth – Dias needs some help from Leme if he hopes to make up ground. If Leme bucks off all three of his bulls this weekend (a very rare occurrence), Dias would only need two rides averaging 85.13 points to secure the MVP award.

Seeing as only one of Dias’s qualified rides this season has been below 85 points, the odds are looking good.

However, if Leme rides two bulls, that could snuff Dias’s MVP hopes – he would have to go a perfect 3-for-3 to have a shot.

That’s better than can be said for any of the other top contenders in the MVP race, as there simply aren’t enough rides remaining this season for No. 3 Dalton Kasel of the Gamblers, No. 4 Cooper Davis of the Carolina Cowboys, or No. 5 Silvano Alves of the Nashville Stampede to make up enough ground.

(Alves is one to watch regardless of MVP implications, as his next qualified ride will be career No. 500.)

RELATED: Alves propels Stampede to victory as he closes in on 500 career rides

For the second year in a row, the MVP race is Leme’s to lose, and it’s not often that Leme loses.

This season, it’s not often the Gamblers have lost, either. The No. 1 team in the league with an 18-7 record, they have already clinched a first-round bye at the 2023 PBR Teams Championship on Oct. 20-22 in Las Vegas as one of the top two teams in the standings at the end of the regular season. The Gamblers have won a whopping four events this season and are looking every bit the juggernaut as they chase their first championship.

Fittingly, Dias’s Outlaws are No. 2 in the standings at 15-10 with three event wins this season. It’s been an eye-popping turnaround for the Outlaws, who were the only team not to win an event in 2022 and finished the 2022 PBR Teams Championship in dead last.

Now, they have their sights set firmly on the second available first-round bye for Las Vegas, which would give them a valuable extra day of rest.

Every team has three games left on its schedule.

The Gamblers will close out their season against the No. 7 Nashville Stampede (9-16) on Friday (8:45 p.m. ET on RidePass on Pluto TV) before taking on the No. 3 Texas Rattlers (13-12) on Saturday and the No. 8 Missouri Thunder (8-17) on Sunday. The Outlaws face the No. 5 Arizona Ridge Riders (12-13) on Friday, the Thunder on Saturday, and the No. 4 Oklahoma Freedom (13-12) on Sunday.

PBR Teams Championship Competition Format

All eight teams qualify for the PBR Team Series Championship in Las Vegas. The top two teams in the regular-season standings earn first-round byes.

The playoffs are the same five-on-five, head-to-head format fans see during the regular season. Two teams will be eliminated from the playoffs each day. The first two rounds of competition will feature a “Last Chance” playoff game for teams who lost their first game earlier in the night.

First Round (Oct. 20)

Regular-Season No. 3 seed vs. Regular-Season No. 8 seed Regular-Season No. 4 seed vs. Regular-Season No. 7 seed Regular-Season No. 5 seed vs. Regular-Season No. 6 seed Last Chance: 3-way last chance game (Three teams who lost in the above games compete; best team score on five rides advances to second round)

Second Round (Oct. 21)

Regular-Season No. 1 seed vs. lowest remaining seed Regular-Season No. 2 seed vs. second-lowest remaining seed No. 3 highest remaining seed vs. No. 4 highest remaining seed Last Chance: 3-way last chance game (Three teams who lost in the above games compete; best team score on five rides advances to semifinals)

Semifinals / Championship Game (Oct. 22)

Top remaining seed vs. lowest remaining seed (Winner advances to championship game) Second top remaining seed vs. third top remaining seed (Winner advances to championship game) 3rd Place Game: Loser of Game 1 above vs. Loser of Game 2 above Championship Game: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2

Photos courtesy of Todd Brewer/Bull Stock Media