Baptized by Smoke

Baptized by Smoke is a competition barbecue team with 4 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record in 2026. They have won 1 Grand Championship, at the O'So Good BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Day 2 (2026). They finished #61 in the 2026 Backyard Series Team of the Year standings.

⚔ Compare with another team

At a glance (the record in numbers)

Rating

1540

Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 4

Contests

in the data

First seen

Apr 3, 2026

latest Sep 18, 2026

Best ToY finish

#61

Backyard 2026 · every season

Grand champs

0 reserve · wins it all 25% of the time

Category wins

4 podiums

Overall top-10s

75% of 4 contests

Best top-10 run

straight overall top-10s, still running

Avg finish

top 32%

overall standings

Best overall

353.1200 / 360

Backyard · O'So Good BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Day 2

Perfect 180s

Walk rate

100%

contests with a top-10 call

Best single call

178.8572

Chicken · O'So Good BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Day 2

Consistency

±8.05

spread of their Backyard overall scores (lower = steadier)

Strongest meat

Pork Ribs

avg 173.12 · weakest Chicken (171.40)

Road miles

across 4 mapped stops · furthest 44 mi

Schedule strength

67%

of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1585)

Purse competed for

$26K

listed at 4 contests — purses, not winnings

State championships

0 🏅

won from 2 state-championship entries

Backyard avg

344.52 / 360

4 Backyard contests · 1 GC

This team cooks the Backyard series — its own boards, records and Team of the Year are here. Still inside their first twelve months: see what a first season usually looks like.

Storylines (7 found in their record)

Each card leads with the number behind the story, straight from their results.

Against the odds

17-in-100 shot on pre-contest ratings

The ratings favoured the top seed the other 83 times in 100

Their Grand Championship at O'So Good BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Day 2 (May 2, 2026) came as the ratings underdog — roughly a 17-in-100 shot against the field's top-rated team, Rollin Smoke BBQ.

High-water mark

353.1200 career-best overall

98.1% of a perfect 360

Their best day on record: 353.1200 at O'So Good BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Day 2 — 98.1% of a perfect 360.

Backyard
May 2, 2026

The one to beat

2× one call ahead of them

Pork Life has finished one call ahead of Baptized by Smoke 2 times — their closest competition in the data.

A tough matchup

3–1 behind in the head-to-head

Budget BBQ ahead in 75% of their meetings

Budget BBQ has come out ahead in 3 of their 4 shared contests.

A strong matchup

4–0 ahead in the head-to-head

Ahead in 100% of their meetings

They've finished ahead of Modest Meats in 4 of their 4 shared contests.

Announced themselves early

3rd at their very first contest

Finished 3 of 36 at their very first tracked contest, Smoke on the Falls (Apr 3, 2026).

Apr 3, 2026
36-team field

Looking over their shoulder

2× one call behind them

Rollin Smoke BBQ has landed one call behind them 2 times.

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
2026 ↗	Backyard	#61 (761 pts)	#67 (761 pts)	#68 (746 pts)	—	—

By meat

Category	Entries	Calls	Wins	Podiums	Best	Worst	Average	Avg finish
Chicken	4	3	1	2	178.8572	160.5144	171.40	top 36%
Pork Ribs	4	3	1	2	176.5600	168.5372	173.12	top 32%

“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)	3	1	top 40%
Medium (20–39)	1	0	top 8%

More numbers

Most contests held in AL 4 of 4 contests

Contests visited 4 a different one every time

First title May 2, 2026 O'So Good BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Day 2

Opponents faced 95 finished ahead 106 times, behind 26

Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)

202611 milestones

Apr 3 First tracked contest Smoke on the Falls
Apr 3 First call Smoke on the Falls
Apr 3 First category win (Chicken) Smoke on the Falls
Apr 3 First overall top-10 Smoke on the Falls
Apr 3 First overall podium Smoke on the Falls
Apr 3 First overall past 90% of a perfect score351.9772 Smoke on the Falls
May 2 First Grand Championship O'So Good BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Day 2
May 2 Career-best overall score353.1200 O'So Good BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Day 2
May 2 Career-best single call (Chicken)178.8572 O'So Good BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Day 2
Sep 18 Peak power rating (1540) Mike Gannon BBQ Cookoff
Sep 18 Most recent contest Mike Gannon BBQ Cookoff

Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)

📈 Biggest rating jumps

Swing	Contest	Date
+20.6	O'So Good BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Day 2	May 2, 2026
+16.5	Smoke on the Falls	Apr 3, 2026
+7.6	Mike Gannon BBQ Cookoff	Sep 18, 2026

📉 Toughest weekends

Swing	Contest	Date
-4.4	O'So Good BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Day 1	May 1, 2026

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)

Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)

Date	Event	Overall	Chicken	Ribs	Pork	Brisket
Sep 18, 2026	Mike Gannon BBQ Cookoff 🏅 Columbiana, AL	6 / 16 (337.0744)	12 (160.5144)	1 (176.5600)	—	—
May 2, 2026	O'So Good BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Day 2 Cleveland, AL	1 / 15 (353.1200)	2 (178.8572)	3 (174.2628)	—	—
May 1, 2026	O'So Good BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Day 1 Cleveland, AL	13 / 17 (335.9200)	9 (167.3828)	14 (168.5372)	—	—
Apr 3, 2026	Smoke on the Falls 🏅 Gadsden, AL	3 / 36 (351.9772)	1 (178.8572)	7 (173.1200)	—	—