The New York Mavericks won four of their first 19 games. Then they won their next four, beginning with a victory over the reigning PBR Teams Champion Carolina Cowboys in Anaheim and continuing with a three-game sweep at Cowboy Days.
New York arrived in Greensboro at 5-15. Victories over Florida on Friday, Arizona on Saturday and Texas on Sunday sent the Mavericks out of North Carolina at 8-15.
FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas has never had much interest in sharing.
Not land. Not bragging rights. And certainly not something with a name like the Texas Cup.
Now in their fifth season, the Texas Rattlers and Austin Gamblers are still working on a disagreement that eight seconds at a time hasn’t settled.
This weekend, that disagreement comes to Fort Worth.
The PBR Team Series makes its ninth stop of the 2026 season Oct. 2-4 when the Rattlers return to Dickies Arena for Rattler Days presented by Germania Insurance. Texas faces Oklahoma on Friday and Arizona on Sunday, with the third regular-season installment of the 2026 Land.com Texas Cup against Austin on Saturday.
The rivalry produced a 5-5 split through its first 10 meetings across 2022 and 2023. Texas took three of five in the inaugural season; Austin answered by winning three of five the following year. But the Rattlers won the meeting that mattered most, beating the Gamblers 355.25-265.25 for the 2023 championship. Austin answered with its own league championship in 2024.
These franchises have done more than trade bragging rights. They have traded reasons to believe they belong on top.
This season, Texas has won both regular-season meetings. Austin nevertheless enters Fort Worth one game ahead in the standings.
Something has to give.
Texas won the first meeting July 12 at Colorado State University’s Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado, 265.55-257.45.
Jean Carlos Teodoro delivered 90.4 points on Yosemite Sam in the fourth frame. Brady Fielder added 88.3 on Fringe Minority, while Daniel Keeping covered Bruised Ashes for 86.85. Austin answered with three qualified rides, including Jose Vitor Leme’s 86.5 on Pretty Boy, but finished 8.1 points short.
The rivalry moved to Austin on Aug. 22, and Texas did it again.
Fielder opened with 87.2 points on Snappy before Keeping became the first rider to cover Cherry Chew, earning 89.65. Leme answered with 91.45 points on Up The Ante, but it was the Gamblers’ only qualified ride.
Texas won 176.85-91.45 and left Moody Center with a 2-0 advantage in this season’s Land.com Texas Cup.
Saturday provides Austin another opportunity.
This time, the Gamblers have to come north.
Missouri and Nashville enter Rattler Days with matching 16-7 records, with the Thunder holding the No. 1 position on aggregate points. Carolina is third at 14-9, followed by Austin at 13-10 and Texas at 12-11.
The Rattlers are four games behind the leaders, but only one behind the team coming to their arena Saturday night.
And there are still 12 regular-season games to do something about it.
Rattler Days begins the final four-event stretch of the 35-game regular season. After Fort Worth come Ridge Rider Days, Maverick Days and Outlaw Days, with three games awaiting Texas at each stop.
Austin arrives having won six of its last seven, including a 176.95-174.85 victory over Nashville to close Cowboy Days. Texas went 1-2 in Greensboro, finishing with a 267.20-89 loss to the New York Mavericks.
Before Texas can worry about Austin, however, there is business Friday night.
The No. 5 Rattlers open against the No. 8 Oklahoma Wildcatters, who enter Fort Worth 9-14. Texas holds a three-game advantage over Oklahoma, making the opener an opportunity to protect its position before facing the team directly ahead of it.
Then comes Saturday.
Austin’s Jose Vitor Leme leads the PBR Teams MVP race, 95 points ahead of Missouri’s Paulo Eduardo Rossetto. Fielder sits No. 3 for Texas.
Leme has covered 20 of 23 bulls this season. Fielder has made 15 qualified rides in 23 outs.
Brady Fielder is the Australian version of Jim Sharp. Technically sound, fundamentally strong and rarely wasting movement, Fielder has become one of the Rattlers’ most dependable riders.
Leme has been doing much the same for Austin while protecting his position atop the MVP standings.
Neither is a rider the opposition can afford to count on bucking off.
Should they meet in the opening frame Saturday, the Land.com Texas Cup could begin with two of the league’s top three MVP contenders setting the standard for everyone who follows.
But the weekend does not end with Saturday’s rivalry game.
The No. 6 Arizona Ridge Riders await Texas on Sunday.
Arizona enters Fort Worth 10-13, two games behind the Rattlers. Friday gives Texas a chance to keep Oklahoma from getting closer. Saturday offers a chance to take a win directly from Austin. Sunday provides an opportunity to keep Arizona from doing the same thing to Texas.
All three Rattlers games are scheduled as the fifth and final matchup of their respective performances.
The rest of the league will be moving around them.
Austin faces No. 3 Carolina on Friday. Missouri and Nashville meet Saturday, two games before Texas and Austin, ensuring the teams entering Fort Worth with the league’s best record must go through each other.
By Sunday afternoon, the standings could look considerably different.
For Texas, the formula is simpler than all the possibilities surrounding it.
Cover bulls. Win games. Let the standings take care of themselves.
HOW TO GET TICKETS
Rattler Days presented by Germania Insurance begins Friday, Oct. 2 at 7:45 p.m. CT, continues Saturday at 6:45 p.m. CT and concludes Sunday at 1:45 p.m. CT at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.
General tickets, PBR Direct tickets, premium seating options, special offers and group sales are available through PBR.
For Rattler Days tickets and premium seating options, click HERE.
HOW TO WATCH
Can’t make it to Dickies Arena? PBR offers multiple ways to follow the action throughout Rattler Days.
Friday and Saturday are scheduled for Paramount+, with Sunday’s action scheduled for The CW.
Can’t make it to Dickies Arena? Click HERE for information on how to watch Rattler Days.
For complete PBR broadcast and streaming information, including Paramount+, CBS, The CW and the PBR App:
For complete PBR broadcast and streaming information, including Paramount+, CBS, The CW and the PBR App, click HERE.
Saturday is not the last scheduled meeting.
The fourth and final regular-season installment of the Land.com Texas Cup comes Oct. 25 at Outlaw Days in Kansas City.
But what happens in Fort Worth could determine what that final meeting is worth.
Texas has taken the first two. Austin arrives one game ahead. Leme has an MVP lead to protect. Fielder has ground to make up. And the Rattlers get five bulls on their home dirt to take a win directly from the team they are chasing.
Nearly five seasons haven’t ended the argument.
Saturday probably won’t either.
But that has never stopped Texas and Austin from trying.
Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media