Banana Ball: I Went to a Savannah Bananas Game and Had a Blast

The Savannah Bananas baseball team is quickly building a huge following. Jack Vita recently had the joy of watching them play the Party Animals at the San Francisco Giants' spring training home, Scottsdale Stadium, in Scottsdale, Arizona. He shares his thoughts and explains why you should visit a game when the Bananas come to your city.

It was your average Friday night in Scottsdale, Arizona.

After a long work week, my buddies and I were trying to figure out our plans for the evening to kick back and unwind. Minutes after we were seated at a restaurant in downtown Scottsdale, my roommate texted me.

"Someone from my church just gave me five tickets to the Savannah Bananas game at Scottsdale Stadium. Do you guys want to go?"

I read the text to my buddies. We didn't have to think twice. We had nothing going on, and we all love baseball. The game was beginning in less than an hour and we had just placed our food orders. So unfortunately we wouldn't catch the start of the game, but that wasn't going to stop us from attending.

Truth be told, none of us had any idea what we were in for. I first became aware of the Savannah Bananas sometime in 2021 or 2022. By the looks of social media, the Bananas appeared to be baseball's Harlem Globetrotters, a fun team whose outfielders do backflips when fielding routine fly balls and whose infielders do cartwheels before fielding groundballs. I had seen some of their videos where the players in the field did synchronized dance moves before the pitcher delivered a pitch. Aside from that, I knew nothing. Honestly, I didn't know what to make of the Bananas. I had my doubts. Was this game going to be cheesy and silly? It ended up being an incredible experience and a night I'll never forget.

My friends and I arrived to meet my roommate about 50 minutes into the game. As we approached him, we took note of the crowd; it was electric. Scottsdale Stadium, the spring training home of the San Francisco Giants that seats 12,000, was bursting with an energy I had never seen before at a ballpark, or really any sports venue for that matter.

A playlist of pop, country, hip-hop and rock songs echoed through the stadium's speakers, as players and fans alike danced to the music, often before the pitcher delivered a pitch to home plate. One of the first things I noticed was how captivated children were while watching. Kids of all ages danced along with the players, while they were decked out in Savannah Bananas merch. Many have said that the game of baseball has a problem connecting with young viewers. Banana Ball? Well, that certainly isn't a problem.

So what exactly is Banana Ball? It's a game played between the Savannah Bananas and their arch rival, the Party Animals. It's baseball, with a twist.

For one, the game is played similar to match play in golf. Instead of counting the cumulative number of runs scored over a nine-inning game, Banana Ball awards a point to the team that scores more runs in each inning. In the final inning, every run counts. There's also a two-hour time limit on the game.

If a player bunts, he is ejected from the game. Batters can steal first base on wild pitch. If a player is walked, every player in the field must touch the ball and the batter can run for as many bases as he wants. Batters can't step out of the batter's box and there are no mound visits. And the most fun rule of them all? If a player hits a foul ball and a fan catches it in the air on a fly, that batter is out.

Banana Ball isn't rigged, either. The Party Animals entered play at 8-6-1 on that Friday night, owning the head-to-head record over the Bananas at that point in the tour.

Banana Ball is an amazing product. My friends and I had a blast. We were thoroughly entertained the entire evening. At one point, a pitcher entered the game on stilts and proceeded to pitch and get a batter out... while on stilts. We sang along to 'Take Me Home Country Roads' and Coldplay's Yellow, with our phone flashlights on.

We watched players having fun. Players not only had unique walk-up songs, but they also had unique walk-up entrances. One player strode up to the batter's box with his teammates in front of him as they all reenacted the infamous 'Call Me Maybe' dance, popularized by the 2012 Harvard Baseball team.

Another player caught a fly ball in the outfield while doing a backflip. One pitcher came in that was throwing pitches between his legs.

It felt like one of my favorite video games from my childhood, MLB Slugfest, had come to life.

The Bananas won on a walk-off base hit, then in celebration, chucked bananas into the crowd.

A Savannah Bananas game is more than a contest; it's an experience. It's an experience that a family can share together and be remembered forever.

So buy your tickets to Banana Ball the next time the team comes to town. It appears the Bananas will be touring mostly at minor league and spring training stadiums this season. The club, founded in 2016, is still building its fanbase. However, the Bananas have been selling out the stadiums they've been playing at during this tour. Resale tickets for the game we attended started at $150/piece, so you won't want to wait! Tickets at face value are very reasonable, however. Tickets go on sale for a game, two months in advance.

Brittany Baldi recently interviewed Savannah Bananas third baseman Jackson Olson on her podcast, The Bosbabes.

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