The comeback
3.5 yrs
off the trail, then back
Off the trail for 3.5 years, then back at Gladstone Smokefest (ONE MEAT RIBS) (2025-10-03).
- last seen 2022-03-25
- back 2025-10-03
BABSLAB BBQ
At a glance (everything the results say about this team, in numbers)
Rating
1492
peak 1492 · rated over 2 contests ⓘ
Contests
3
in the data
First seen
2021-07-16
latest 2022-03-25
Best ToY finish
#1502
Master 2021
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
0
of 3 contests
Avg finish
top 73%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
67%
contests with a top-10 call
Strongest meat
Pork
avg 173.12 · weakest Brisket (158.82)
Road miles
58
mi across 3 mapped stops
Purse competed for
$7K
listed at 2 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
GCs in 1 state-championship entries
Master avg
658.73 / 720
1 Master contest · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
329.07 / 360
1 Backyard contest · 0 GCs
Master and Backyard overall scores sit on different scales (Master is 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.
Storylines (2 found in this team's record)
Each card leads with the number that made it a story — read straight out of their results, no editorialising.
Looking over their shoulder
2×
one call behind them
Notch 9 has landed one call behind them 2 times.
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The nearest teams in the power rankings, with a different reason on each card — six teams on one rating are rarely on it for the same reason. Rating decides who makes the list; where teams tie on it, the ones this team has actually cooked against come first, then teams at a similar point in their own career. KCBS doesn’t publish where a team is from, so nothing here is inferred from geography.
BABSLAB BBQ has 2 rated contests — short of the five it takes to earn a power ranking — so this rating has barely moved off the 1500 every team starts on and 127 rated teams sit within a point of it. Read the list as the nearest company at a number nobody here has moved far from, not as a verdict on who this team belongs with.
#3538 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1492
No shared contest yet.
A longer road to the same neighbourhood — 5 contests to 3.
⚔ Head-to-head#3522 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1507
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 5 years before BABSLAB BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#3537 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1507
No shared contest yet.
They were already cooking in 2015, 6 years before BABSLAB BBQ's first contest.
⚔ Head-to-head#3527 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1492
No shared contest yet.
Level with BABSLAB BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-head#3542 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1510
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 5 years before BABSLAB BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#3528 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1505
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 5 years before BABSLAB BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-headBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 169.1200 | 169.1200 | 169.12 | top 50% |
| Pork Ribs | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 163.9544 | 157.6688 | 160.24 | top 73% |
| Pork | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 173.1200 | 173.1200 | 173.12 | top 42% |
| Brisket | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 158.8228 | 158.8228 | 158.82 | top 82% |
“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.
The story so far (17 numbers that describe this team)
On the trail
0.7 yrs
2021-07-16 → 2022-03-25
Busiest season
2025
1 contest
Contests a season
1
across 3 seasons in the data
Cooks most in
MO
3 of 3 contests
Contests visited
2
0 of them cooked more than once
Most-entered meat
Pork Ribs
4 entries · 0 wins · 1 calls
Strongest meat
Pork
averages 173.12 · weakest Brisket (158.82)
Walk rate
67%
a top-10 call in 2 of 3 contests
Overall top-10 rate
0%
0 of 3 contests
Master average
658.73
out of 720 · 1 contest · 0 GCs
Backyard average
329.07
out of 360 · 1 contest · 0 GCs
Opponents faced
54
15–41 across every shared overall standing
Road miles
58
3 mapped stops
Purse competed for
$7,000
listed at 2 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0
from 1 state-championship entries
Longest layoff
3.5 yrs
2022-03-25 → 2025-10-03
Power rating
1492
peak 1492 · #null of 6,413 rated
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
- 2021
- First tracked contest Cameron Elks BBQ Cook Off Day 1
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score658.7316 Cameron Elks BBQ Cook Off Day 1
- Career-best overall score658.7316 Cameron Elks BBQ Cook Off Day 1
- Career-best single call (Pork)173.1200 Cameron Elks BBQ Cook Off Day 1
- 2022
- First call American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest
- 2025
- Most recent contest Gladstone Smokefest (ONE MEAT RIBS)
Category scores over time
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | — | — | — |
| 2022 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 64% | 91.4% | 91.4% |
| 2021 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 82% | 91.5% | 91.5% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-10-03 | Gladstone Smokefest (ONE MEAT RIBS) Gladstone, MO | — | — | 10 (163.9544) | — | — |
| 2022-03-25 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest Kansas City, MO | 16 / 25 (329.0744) | 9 (169.1200) | 19 (159.9544) | — | — |
| 2021-07-16 | Cameron Elks BBQ Cook Off Day 1 🏅 Cameron, MO | 27 / 33 (658.7316) | 21 (169.1200) | 30 (157.6688) | 14 (173.1200) | 27 (158.8228) |
Career map (orange GC · green top-10 · grey the rest — tap a pin)
Team of the Year standings (rank per category by season — year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 ↗ | Backyard | — | #240 (135 pts) | #313 (80 pts) | — | — |
| 2021 ↗ | Master | #1502 (58 pts) | #1214 (78 pts) | #1557 (58 pts) | #1054 (113 pts) | #1498 (58 pts) |