High-water mark
666.2632
career-best overall
92.5% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 666.2632 at Poor Que — 92.5% of a perfect 720.
- Master
- Jun 5, 2015
IT'S THE PITS
IT'S THE PITS is a competition barbecue team with 7 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2013 and 2019. Their best overall finish is 6th of 33 at the BBQ Boogie & Blues (2019). They are ranked #2389 of 6,477 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1524
peak 1524 · rated over 7 contests
Contests
7
in the data
First seen
Jun 7, 2013
latest Apr 26, 2019 · 5.9 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
1
2 podiums
Overall top-10s
4
57% of 7 contests
Best top-10 run
2
straight overall top-10s, still running
Avg finish
top 45%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Current form
646.10 ▲
last 5 Master vs avg 641.37 (+4.73)
Walk rate
86%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±16.78
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Brisket
avg 161.44 · weakest Pork (159.25)
Road miles
953
across 7 mapped stops · furthest 669 mi
Schedule strength
26%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1536)
State championships
0 🏅
won from 1 state-championship entry
Master avg
641.37 / 720
6 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
327.97 / 360
1 Backyard contest · 0 GCs
These overall scores sit on different scales (Master out of 720, Backyard out of 360), so they're kept separate — averaging them together would be misleading.
This team cooks the Backyard series — its own boards, records and Team of the Year are here.
Team of the Year (rank per category by season — the year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 ↗ | Master | #1336 (209 pts) | #1678 (159 pts) | #1352 (229 pts) | #1463 (209 pts) | #1347 (229 pts) |
| 2015 ↗ | Master | #1476 (165 pts) | #1606 (155 pts) | #1671 (145 pts) | #1215 (260 pts) | #2034 (90 pts) |
| 2014 ↗ | Master | #1278 (224 pts) | #1565 (174 pts) | #1146 (279 pts) | #1872 (129 pts) | #748 (489 pts) |
| 2013 ↗ | Master | #2428 (69 pts) | #1660 (139 pts) | #2546 (64 pts) | #2550 (64 pts) | #1755 (124 pts) |
Overall rank by season
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to IT'S THE PITS, each with one reason worth a look.
97 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#2,392 of the rated field
- Contests
- 15
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1533
1–1 in 2 shared contests (50% to IT'S THE PITS)
2 contests in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team IT'S THE PITS has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head#2,402 of the rated field
- Contests
- 130
- GCs
- 1
- Top-10s
- 30%
- Peak
- 1703
0–1 in 1 shared contest (0% to IT'S THE PITS)
They've been 1703 at their best, 180 points above where they sit today — they're arriving at this rating from above.
⚔ Head-to-head#2,399 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 43%
- Peak
- 1523
Careers of much the same size, 7 contests to 7, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#2,405 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 29%
- Peak
- 1523
Both teams' first contest in the data came in 2013.
⚔ Compare careers#2,383 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 29%
- Peak
- 1524
Their last contest in the data was back in 2016, 3 years before IT'S THE PITS's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#2,391 of the rated field
- Contests
- 8
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 63%
- Peak
- 1545
Level with IT'S THE PITS on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careersFamiliar foes (most-met opponents in overall standings — one meeting per contest)
| Opponent | Meetings | Ahead | Behind | Win rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRASH TEST SMOKERS | 5 | 3 | 2 | 60% | ⚔ compare |
| QUAU | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
By meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 167.9772 | 156.5484 | 160.73 | top 51% |
| Pork Ribs | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 168.5716 | 138.8570 | 159.34 | top 46% |
| Pork | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 172.0344 | 150.8456 | 159.25 | top 60% |
| Brisket | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 167.3828 | 154.2744 | 161.44 | top 31% |
“Calls” = top-10 category finishes (getting called to the stage). Scores here are the final weighted totals KCBS publishes; per-criterion appearance/taste/tenderness marks aren’t in the public results feed.
By field size and state
By contest size
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small (<20 teams) | 1 | 0 | top 37% |
| Medium (20–39) | 5 | 0 | top 40% |
| Large (40+) | 1 | 0 | top 76% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poor Que | 3 | 7 | 0 | top 35% | Jun 5, 2015 |
More numbers
Busiest season
2016
2 contests
Contests a season
1.4
across 5 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
WI
6 of 7 contests · 2 states in all
Contests visited
5
1 of them more than once
Opponents faced
197
finished ahead 149 times, behind 116
Longest layoff
3 yrs
May 13, 2016 → Apr 26, 2019
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20192 milestones
- Peak power rating (1524) BBQ Boogie & Blues
- Most recent contest BBQ Boogie & Blues
20153 milestones
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +11.6 | Poor Que | Jun 5, 2015 |
| +10.7 | BBQ Boogie & Blues | Apr 26, 2019 |
| +9.7 | Poor Que | Jun 6, 2014 |
| +7.6 | Madison Magazine BBQ Festival | May 13, 2016 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -7.4 | Pig in the Park | Jun 20, 2014 |
| -5.3 | Masters in May | Apr 29, 2016 |
| -3.3 | Poor Que | Jun 7, 2013 |
Scores over time (% of a perfect score — tap a meat to add it)
Overall finish over time (top-% of field, lower is better)
Where they finish (overall)
Best vs average (by meat)
How entries end (by meat)
Season by season
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 18% | 91.1% | 91.1% |
| 2016 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 50% | top 57% | 91.1% | 89.4% |
| 2015 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 18% | 92.5% | 92.5% |
| 2014 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100% | top 50% | 90% | 88.6% |
| 2013 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 62% | 85.8% | 85.8% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 26, 2019 | BBQ Boogie & Blues 🏅 Calhoun, GA | 6 / 33 (327.9660) | 9 (161.6916) | 6 (166.2744) | 16 (154.8228) | 10 (154.2744) |
| May 13, 2016 | Madison Magazine BBQ Festival Sauk City, WI | 7 / 19 (655.9088) | 14 (156.5484) | 5 (165.7260) | 7 (168.5372) | 5 (165.0972) |
| Apr 29, 2016 | Masters in May Appleton, WI | 45 / 59 (631.9088) | 52 (157.1544) | 37 (158.8228) | 46 (157.1200) | 35 (158.8116) |
| Jun 5, 2015 | Poor Que Montello, WI | 7 / 38 (666.2632) | 8 (167.9772) | 9 (167.4400) | 2 (172.0344) | 19 (158.8116) |
| Jun 20, 2014 | Pig in the Park Whitewater, WI | 20 / 26 (628.4800) | 20 (157.7028) | 22 (149.7144) | 22 (155.9544) | 4 (165.1084) |
| Jun 6, 2014 | Poor Que Montello, WI | 9 / 38 (647.9544) | 18 (161.1544) | 4 (168.5716) | 38 (150.8456) | 1 (167.3828) |
| Jun 7, 2013 | Poor Que Montello, WI | 24 / 39 (617.7134) | 10 (162.8568) | 37 (138.8570) | 26 (155.4282) | 13 (160.5714) |