Perfect scores on the board
1
perfect 180
1 perfect 180 in the data — every judge at the table handing back a nine, all in pork ribs.
- Pork Ribs ×1
Mike's Backyard BBQ
Mike's Backyard BBQ is a competition barbecue team with 7 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2025 and 2026. They have won 1 Grand Championship, at the 10th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam (2026). They are ranked #1646 of 6,476 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1555
peak 1555 · rated over 5 contests2 invitational or side-series contests not counted
Contests
7
in the data
First seen
Jan 9, 2025
latest Mar 20, 2026 · 1.2 years on the trail
Grand champs
1
0 reserve · wins it all 14% of the time
Category wins
3
5 podiums
Overall top-10s
4
57% of 7 contests
Best top-10 run
3
straight overall top-10s, still running
Avg finish
top 25%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
1 🔥
Walk rate
57%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±8.58
spread of their Backyard overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 172.55 · weakest Brisket (168.41)
Road miles
1,729
across 7 mapped stops · furthest 626 mi
Schedule strength
46%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1559)
Purse competed for
$75K
listed at 5 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
1 🏅
won from 5 state-championship entries
Master avg
667.87 / 720
1 Master contest · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
344.77 / 360
5 Backyard contests · 1 GC
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)
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Mike's Backyard BBQ, each with one reason worth a look.
36 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#1,648 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 80%
- Peak
- 1555
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 7, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#1,645 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 1
- Top-10s
- 67%
- Peak
- 1555
Their last contest in the data was back in 2015, 11 years before Mike's Backyard BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#1,650 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 1
- Top-10s
- 57%
- Peak
- 1555
Their rating is built on 1 Grand Championship in 7 contests, alongside a 57% overall top-10 rate.
⚔ Compare careers#1,651 of the rated field
- Contests
- 13
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1555
This is the highest they've ever been rated, 8 rated contests in — a team sitting at its own career peak.
⚔ Compare careers#1,647 of the rated field
- Contests
- 8
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 38%
- Peak
- 1555
They were already cooking in 2015, 10 years before Mike's Backyard BBQ's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#1,643 of the rated field
- Contests
- 9
- GCs
- 1
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1555
Level with Mike's Backyard BBQ 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bearded Monkeys Twisted Q | 5 | 4 | 1 | 80% | ⚔ compare |
By meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 175.4172 | 160.5144 | 168.64 | top 27% |
| Pork Ribs | 7 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 180 🔥 | 163.9544 | 172.55 | top 28% |
| Pork | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 174.8572 | 165.6800 | 171.40 | top 25% |
| Brisket | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 178.8572 | 158.2516 | 168.41 | top 25% |
“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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 4 | 1 | top 21% |
| Large (40+) | 2 | 0 | top 32% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Torry Island BBQ Showdown | 2 | 3 | 0 | top 33% | Mar 20, 2026 |
More numbers
Busiest season
2025
4 contests
Contests a season
3.5
across 2 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
FL
5 of 7 contests · 2 states in all
Contests visited
5
1 of them more than once
Most-entered meat
Pork Ribs
7 entries · 2 wins · 4 calls
First title
Jan 9, 2026
10th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam
Opponents faced
302
finished ahead 298 times, behind 124
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20268 milestones
- First overall podium 10th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam
- First Grand Championship 10th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam
- First state championship 10th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam
- First multi-meat day 10th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam
- First perfect 180 (Pork Ribs) 10th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam
- Biggest field won (38 teams) 10th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam
- Peak power rating (1555) Torry Island BBQ Showdown
- Most recent contest Torry Island BBQ Showdown
20256 milestones
- First tracked contest 9th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam
- First call 9th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam
- First category win (Pork Ribs) 9th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam
- First overall top-10 9th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score348.5372 9th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam
- Career-best overall score667.8744 Torry Island BBQ Showdown
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +18.9 | 10th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam | Jan 9, 2026 |
| +16.3 | Lakeland Pig Festival | Jan 22, 2026 |
| +13.6 | 9th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam | Jan 9, 2025 |
| +12.6 | Torry Island BBQ Showdown | Mar 20, 2026 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -6.2 | Torry Island BBQ Showdown | Mar 21, 2025 |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 100% | top 5% | 98.7% | 96.8% |
| 2025 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 25% | top 44% | 96.8% | 93.8% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 20, 2026 | Torry Island BBQ Showdown 🏅 Belle Glade, FL | 3 / 34 (341.1200) | 5 (164.5600) | 2 (176.5600) | — | — |
| Jan 22, 2026 | Lakeland Pig Festival 🏅 Lakeland, FL | 3 / 63 (348.5716) | 5 (172) | 3 (176.5716) | 5 (174.8572) | 14 (166.2628) |
| Jan 9, 2026 | 10th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam 🏅 St. Augustine, FL | 1 / 38 (355.4172) | 4 (175.4172) | 1 (180) | 12 (173.1084) | 1 (178.8572) |
| May 25, 2025 | 7th Annual KCBS World Invitational (Sunday, May 25, 2025) unrated Lebanon, TN | 42 / 70 (330.1944) | 42 (160.5144) | 32 (169.6800) | — | — |
| May 23, 2025 | 7th Annual KCBS World Invitational Ribs (Friday, May 23, 2025) unrated Lebanon, TN | — | — | 46 (163.9544) | — | — |
| Mar 21, 2025 | Torry Island BBQ Showdown 🏅 Belle Glade, FL | 15 / 26 (667.8744) | 13 (167.3944) | 14 (164.5372) | 12 (165.6800) | 12 (170.2628) |
| Jan 9, 2025 | 9th Annual Jimmy Jam BBQ Slam 🏅 Elkton, FL | 5 / 38 (348.5372) | 7 (171.9772) | 1 (176.5600) | 5 (171.9656) | 11 (158.2516) |
An unrated contest — an invitational, or a Competitor or Kosher Series board — is in the record but doesn’t move the power rating.