This Trip Was Bananas, B. A. N. A. N. A. S. – Savannah Bananas Baseball

Did we fly to Miami for 24 hours just to watch a baseball game? Yes, yes we did.

The Savannah Bananas are the hottest baseball team out there right now (Or are they? Keep reading.), so we really wanted to see them play. If you’ve never heard of the Bananas, they are basically the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball. In other words, you’re in for a show. As their name suggests, they normally play in Savannah, GA. But if you thought you could just pop into a game whenever you’re in town, you’d be incorrect. Due to their leap in popularity, the Bananas’ games work on a lottery system. This can make attending a game a bit of a challenge, especially when Savannah is not close to home.

In 2025, the Bananas set out on their largest tour to date, scheduling games in 18 MLB stadiums and 3 NFL stadiums. The rules of obtaining tickets are thus: You must first submit to the lottery. If you are chosen, you are then given a time slot in which you can order tickets. If you’re lucky, there will still be tickets left by the time your timeslot arrives.

We entered the lottery for the Atlanta games but were, sadly, not selected. However, in a bit of a surprise, we received an email stating that we had been automatically entered for the drawing in Miami (because that is soooo close to Atlanta). We actually got picked for this lottery and, in what might be an escalation of commitment, bought tix, booked flights, and headed to the home of Florida Man for some Banana Ball!

So what exactly is Banana Ball and how should you prepare yourself for this unhinged event?

Rules of Banana Ball
1. The game only lasts 2 hours.
2. If you win the inning, you win a point. The team with the most points at the end wins.
3. Batters cannot step out of the batter’s box.
4. There is absolutely no bunting.
5. Batters can steal first base.
6. There are no walks. If there’s a ball four, the hitter can advance to any and all bases whilst all fielders have to touch the ball before they can go after the batter.
7. There are no visits to the mound.
8. If a fan catches a fly ball, it’s an out.
9. A designated fan can challenge a call during the game.
10. If the game is tied when the time runs out, the showdown tiebreaker comes into play. With only three fielders (pitcher, catcher, and one outfielder), a batter for each team must score in one at bat.

Sound nuts yet? You haven’t the slightest.

Banana Ball is sensory overload. The organized dancing is not all there is to it, like you might think from the videos on social media. They play music the whole game… the WHOLE game. They don’t stop the music while they are actually playing baseball, which is crazy for those of us who go to regular baseball games. They have dancing on the sidelines a lot throughout the game, the game is going on, and music is blasting, so just be prepared to be a bit overwhelmed at first.

We decided to take in the pre-game activities that started about five hours before the game. We read that you had to have a ticket for these activities, but that the gates didn’t open until 4:30. We thought that meant that normal stadium rules wouldn’t apply until 4:30 (what food you can bring in, bag size, etc.), but they actually start applying when you arrive because you go through the screening and ticket check on the way into the plaza. (Namely, we had some delicious snacks that we thought we would have until 4:30 to eat and we did not.) We could also only take sealed bottles of water into the plaza. Is it a good way to sell more drinks and snacks, absolutely, but we were not prepared for that. By the time we’d made it into the park, we’d consumed multiple waters each (it was hotter than expected).

Assuming you don’t travel to another state (with flights, hotels, parking, rental cars, and all that jazz), you really get your money’s worth with Banana Ball, especially if you take in the pre-game activities. Our pre-game began at 2:00 for a 7:00 start. They had player appearances where you could take pics or get autographs with players from both teams (and sometimes give them tattoos with a Sharpie), a large merch stand, and music. Then, around 3:00, the Man-anas Dad Bod Cheer Squad came out to do some dancing in the crowd. Around 3:30, Before the Peel started on the stage and they had singing, dancing, and all sorts of fun things to pump up the crowd from both the Bananas and the Party Animals.

Speaking of the Party Animals, the Bananas’ biggest rivals, they are your mom’s favorite baseball team and they might be one of ours now too. The Party Animals go hard core just like the Bananas, but they even kept the party going on the sidelines all game long. They were always dancing and cutting up on the sidelines more so than the Bananas, though we loved both teams. The Party Animals actually won the game we went to and they also won our hearts.

Though it was chaotic, it was also quite fun. If you ever have a chance to attend a game, we definitely recommend it. And don’t fret, if you can’t attend in person you can watch online. All Banana ball games are live-streamed on YouTube.