PUEBLO, Colo. – With the Kansas City Outlaws capturing their third event title of the 2023 PBR Camping World Team Series last weekend inside Desert Diamond Arena, there’s been plenty to celebrate for J.W. Hart and team.

But the job is far from over for Cassio Dias, Wingson Henrique da Silva and company.

Well, several jobs, depending on what the team considers its ultimate goals.

RELATED: #InCaseYouMissedIt: Third time’s the charm for the Kansas City Outlaws

Set to enter the tour’s upcoming regular season finale with the best odds of capturing the second, and final, first-round bye at the 2023 PBR Teams Championship, they’ll have to stay locked in and pick up right where they left things during their flawless performance in Glendale, Arizona.

While the 15-10 squad currently holds a two-game advantage over both the No. 3 Texas Rattlers (13-12) and No. 4 Oklahoma Freedom (13-12), they understand game wins are no easy feat.

Specifically at the end of another grueling, physical season.

Just ask the No. 1 Austin Gamblers, who had to wait to until Championship Sunday to secure an elusive victory, its only win of the weekend, en route to locking up the No. 1 seed and corresponding bye for the first round of this year’s PBR Teams Championship in Las Vegas (Oct. 20-22).

RELATED: Austin Gamblers sharing downtime, spotlight en route to clinching first-round bye

Victories aren’t easy to come by at any point in the 10-event regular season. But now, just two weeks away from the chance of winning millions of dollars during the season-culminating event, teams can smell the money.

And they can taste the finish line.

There’s no doubt that the Outlaws have been one of the hottest teams in the league all season.

But since opting into a bit of a youth movement last month, sending captain Eli Vastbinder to the Texas Rattlers in exchange for 22-year-old Dawson Gleaves (albeit, currently injured) and allowing the Nashville Stampede to sign veteran Chase Outlaw from its Reserve Roster, the red, white and blue squad look a bit different than they did at the beginning of the season.

Especially since the team has seen more than its fair share of returns from 2023 PBR Teams Draft selection Caden Bunch, who hasn’t been shy competing within the 5-on-5 format.

Blazing his way into the 2023 season with quite the reputation these days, now 8-for-11, the talented 20-year-old represents a building block for the Freedom. One they’ll be able to continue to develop and add around for years to come.

“Caden, he was our very first original draft pick from our starting five (at the beginning of the season) with Eli (Vastbinder) and (Chase) Outlaw and (Derek) Kolbaba,” Freedom Head Coach Cord McCoy shared.

“To see him now, be more complete, kind of our ace in the hole, has kind of been a great deal. He's making a difference for the whole team.”

Thankfully for Oklahoma, bunch hasn’t been the only providing sparks as of late.

“Alex (Cerqueira) … Man, when you talk about a hidden secret, a diamond in the rough, he’s been a game changer for us. That guy has so much value for the Freedom and we’re pumped to have him,” skip added.

“Big win to take down the No. 1 Gamblers and start the weekend on a good note, but we’ve kind of felt it coming, that momentum. If that’s a sure sign for Fort Worth and the Championship … man those guys are just getting hot and tuned up at the right time. We’re excited.”

Turning in a rank 91.75-point ride atop Ricky Vaughn for his Freedom on Saturday night, Cerqueira actually tied Chase Dougherty with the highest-scored ride of the 2023 season.

Add in a productive Elizmar Jeremias (7-for-18) and some flashes from newcomers Roscoe Jarboe, Grayson Cole (both of whom found the whistle this past weekend in Glendale) and it’s easy to see why Oklahoma has a shot to not only claim the final first-round bye.

Better yet, why they’re a threat to make a run inside T-Mobile Arena.

“There’s so many ways you can go back and figure it, a half point off or one bull away from winning a game, which is half of these teams, but they finished better this weekend than ever before,” McCoy concluded.

“I think we’re just doing it as a bull-by-bull, game-by-game type situation. It’s still a possibility for a lot of teams, that second bye. It’s going to be hard for anyone to catch Austin, but there’s going to be a lot of shuffling for that No. 2 spot. If we can make it all the way, it’d be great to have a bye, but I think everybody saw it last year. Sometimes the bye in the first round is not in your favor. Sometimes it’s nice to get that first round in there and get warmed up and get to rolling.”

Whether the coach was installing a backup plan in case Oklahoma sees the Outlaws, Rattlers or even No. 5 Arizona Ridge Riders (12-13) come in to earn the day of rest within the three-day championship gauntlet, he’s not the only coach who noticed how things shook out for last year’s teams who had the opening night off.

“We’ll just let the pieces fall where they may, but ultimately I know when we went (to Las Vegas) last year, after being there, I don’t know that we really want a bye. The bye teams didn’t really come back and do anything strong. I mean, Texas did pretty well, but Austin didn’t,” Ridge Riders’ Head Coach Colby Yates added.

RELATED: Arizona’s Nick Tetz leading the way in two season-ending races as fall slate heats up

“With us coming us in there and getting that first day in there under our belt and being ready for that second day, like ride-ready, since we had already been on some bulls, I think that was a big thing.”

Rostering the likes of one Nick Tetz, who’s got a full plate lately, Vitor Losnake and veteran Eduardo Aparecido, Yates and Technical Coach Paulo Crimber should feel comfortable about their odds to make another run this fall. But which position they enter Vegas in, or who they face, isn’t top of mind right now.

“Either way, it doesn’t matter to me. I’ll let the cards fall where they may but what I expect is to win every game here on out for the rest of the season,” Yates said.

“It’s not been our best season or the season we’ve hoped for, but I think looking at last year, we can end this season close to last year’s results, but it’s still not good enough. We can do better.”

With the PBR Camping World Team Series set to invade Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Oct. 6-8 for the final event of the 2023 PBR Camping World Team Series campaign, we’re taking a quick look back at some of the numerical takeaways from Ridge Rider Days in this week’s By the Numbers!

Triple-Threat: With the Kansas City outlaws winning their third event title of the season Sunday in Glendale (adding to their victories in Kansas City, Missouri, and Nashville, Tennessee), the orange and black squad remain one of just four teams who have logged event wins this season. Joining the league-leading Austin Gamblers, who have succeeded in four of nine opportunities this season (Cheyenne, Wyoming, Anaheim, California, Austin, Texas and Greensboro, North Carolina), they’re in rare company this year, with only the Texas Rattlers (Ridgedale, Missouri) and the Arizona Ridge Riders (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) exiting contests with wins so far.

2023 Regular Season Champs: Momentum is very important in bull riding, but will coming off its third event win of the season provide enough waves for the Outlaws to ride their way to a regular season championship? Not only would Kansas City need to go 3-0 inside Dickies Arena this weekend to earn the honors, but they’d need the No. 1 Gamblers to produce their first 0-3 competition of the year, all while assuming they will end the season with more qualified rides than the Michael Gaffney-led opposition. With Austin bringing its 18-7 record into PBR Ridge Rider Days, the Outlaws are the only team mathematically possible of de-throning the dominant Gamblers. With Dalton Kasel missing all of last week’s competition, will Jose Vitor Leme be able to team up with Ramon de Lima, Cort McFadden and team to get the job done like last Sunday? If they’re able to extend their previously established, PBR Teams record-breaking 18 wins to 19 or beyond, it’ll be yet another celebratory weekend for Austin.

Bye No. 2: With the Gamblers securing the No. 1 seed and corresponding first-round bye at the 2023 PBR Teams Championship, allowing only the Kansas City Outlaws a (slight) chance at the regular season title, that story is practically already written. But when it comes to teams continuing to duke it out for a shot at the second bye in Las Vegas, four teams are very much alive. Of course, Kansas City, at 15-10, has the best odds of securing said early-weekend rest, the Texas Rattlers, Oklahoma Freedom and Arizona Ridge Riders have each enjoyed successes of their own lately, and remaining mathematically capable of making a run in Fort Worth. If the Outlaws can win two of three games inside Dickies Arena, they will automatically secure the bye, and join the Austin Gamblers in watching the opening night action. Entering the regular season finale with matching 13-12 records, two games back from Kansas City, respectively, they’ll need to win AT LEAST two of three games, with a 3-0 record greatly boosting their chances. Arizona, however, would have to go a perfect 3-0 while seeing the Outlaws go 0-3, along with needing the No. 3 and No. 4 squads to endure some losses as well.

Ride No. 1: Sure, it’s late into the 2023 slate, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad time to go the distance for the first time this season! Several of the league’s top teams saw inaugural qualified rides from up-and--coming riders this weekend, including the Oklahoma Freedom (Grayson Cole, Roscoe Jarboe), Kansas City Outlaws (Bob Mitchell), Austin Gamblers (Cort McFadden) and Carolina Cowboys (Conner Halverson). While Halverson stepped into a 1-for-3 weekend during his first action of the season, freshly signed by the Cowboys just days before the contest, Kansas City’s Bob Mitchell was able to break the longest active buckoff streak in the league, logging an 88.25-point conversion atop Carlos Danger, which represents the 20-year-old’s first 8-second ride in PBR Teams since last year’s 2022 PBR Teams Championship.

52 Conversions: With one of the deeper rosters around the circuit, the Texas Rattlers actually paced the league for a majority of the 2023 regular season. With their hometown showdown on tap this weekend, they find themselves tied with the Gamblers at 47. While qualified ride totals don’t have a huge presence during the week-to-week stretch, they very much could play an important factor as teams are seeded for this year’s championship slate. Both Austin and Texas are now looking up at the No. 2 Outlaws, though, who have quietly assembled 52 total qualified rides for the Outlaws after racking up eight this past weekend (including two from recent trade acquisition Sandro Batista).

3-for-3: Saving the best for last, it was the Oklahoma Freedom’s Alex Cerqueira who turned in the only flawless 3-for-3 performance inside Desert Diamond Arena last weekend. Becoming the first member of the Freedom to earn the MVP event titles, Cerqueira racked up a tour-best 266 points during his perfect weekend, including an electric 91.75-point go aboard Ricky Vaughn sandwiched between an 86.5-point ride on opening night paired against Smoked Down and a Championship Sunday dance with Safety Meeting. Just as his coach Cord McCoy suggested, if he can continue to add to what Bunch and company have continued to dish out, the stars and stripes squad could very much be a contender in Las Vegas.

Photo courtesy of Todd Brewer/Bull Stock Media