Who Are the Savannah Bananas? Explaining Banana Ball & Where to Watch on TV in 2025

Paige Strout August 1, 2025, 1:35 pm

The Savannah Bananas baseball team, May 2025. — Courtesy of The Savannah Bananas/Instagram

After taking the internet by storm, the Savannah Bananas are bringing Banana Ball to the small screen.

Since launching in 2016, the Georgia-based baseball team has changed the sporting landscape with its unique take on America’s favorite pastime. In addition to hitting baseballs and running bases, players pump up the crowd with fun musical performances both in the stands and on the field.

“We’re trying to create the greatest show in sports,” founder Jesse Cole said in a Good Morning America segment aired on Saturday, July 26. “Since we started, it was to make baseball fun.”

As a baseball lover and player, Cole said he was inspired to create the team after finding himself “bored” with some aspects of typical baseball games. “I said, ‘How do we make it non-stop entertainment, non-stop fun, that a fan literally can’t look away?'”

Player Jackson Olson added, “When you come to a game, you realize that we’re baseball players who dance. This is a real baseball game, and we’re gonna compete ’til the very, very end.”

Scroll down to learn everything you need to know about the team and where to watch them this summer:

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Who are the Savannah Bananas?

The Savannah Bananas are an exhibition baseball team, meaning they are not a part of the MLB and don’t play to advance their position in any given league. They play an alternate version of baseball known as Banana Ball and play against their partner touring teams, including the Party Animals, the Texas Tailgaters, and the Firefighters.

The players are perhaps best known for incorporating musical performances into each game, from walking up to bat to a Taylor Swift song to stopping mid-game for a choreographed routine at the pitcher’s mound and more.

“Our hitters’ walk-ups are legendary. Bananas may be escorted to the plate by the Banana Pep Band, walk down the yellow carpet wearing the finest Dolce and Banana, or they may even introduce themselves,” the team’s website reads. “We are known for our epic scoring celebrations. From running through the crowd to performing fully choreographed country line dances. When we score, you never know what will happen next.”

Savannah Bananas fans also get in on the fun, as the team has a senior citizen dance team called the Banana Nanas, a “Dad Bod Cheerleading Squad” called the Man-Nanas, and a youth dance team. Vincent Chapman and Maceo Harrison also serve as the “world’s only” dancing umpire and breakdancing coach, respectively. Cole, for his part, famously sports a yellow tuxedo and bowler hat to each game

How does Banana Ball work?

The team’s website describes Banana Ball as “the fastest and most entertaining game of baseball,” adding, “Every game we have a 3-2-2, which stands for 3rd inning, second batter, second pitch. These are unique in-game pre-pitch dances that have combined together for over 300 million views on TikTok.”

Outfielder Robert Anthony Cruz broke down the differences between regular baseball and Banana Ball in a March YouTube Shorts clip. For starters, the team only plays two-hour games versus regular baseball, which has no time limit for all nine innings to be completed.

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“To win a Banana Ball game, you don’t have to score more runs. You just have to win more innings. Whoever scores more runs in the first inning wins the inning. Same thing with the second inning, and so on. You win the inning, you get a point. Whoever has the most points wins.”

More differences include that hitters can’t step outside of the batter’s box, bunting is prohibited, there are no walks and mound visits, and fan catches count as outs.

“The Golden Batter Rule — it doesn’t matter if they just hit,” Cruz continued. “At any time, the coach could put in their Golden Batter, in that big moment of the game. Both teams can challenge plays on the field in case the umpire gets it wrong. Instead of extra innings, there are showdowns.”