*This trip occurred on June 11, 2026.

Where in the world is Loco Beach? I'm not sure if anyone has the answer, but I'm also not sure how important that is...as long as it's not near Ep{THE REST OF THIS JOKE WAS DEEMED TOO CONTROVERSIAL FOR THIS BLOG}.

The Loco Beach Coconuts are one of two new teams the Banana Ball organization created for 2026. As such, there’s not much to say in terms of "history" (not to mention the "Loco Beach" geographic identifier) - but as a baseball fan from Boston (with an odd amount of affinity for the Phillies), it is cool to see 2013 ALCS hero (and two-game Lakewood Blueclaw) Shane Victorino involved. Judging from the fact that their introduction featured folks in Polynesian-inspired garb (plus Shane "the Flyin' Hawaiian" Victorino), it seems that they're going for a tropical/Hawaiian vibe as opposed to something like a South Beach or Californian thing (or, y'know, Tybee Island, GA).

Normally, Thursday would be a date I would NOT consider for going to a Banana Ball game (what with all the plaza stuff and the fact that I wanted to invite people), but something came up the day I bought tickets¹, and this ended up being the only day I could go. Since I've discussed ShoreTown Ballpark twice already on this blog (once last year and once this year), I can "skip" talking about the ballpark and just focus on the game itself.

Unlike my prior Banana Ball games, there was no special K Club area in the pregame plaza. Instead, various prizes were raffled off, including an upgrade to "Banana Ball Backstage" tickets (which offer VIP access) as well as various opportunities to be on the field/in the dugouts. Partially due to this lack of K Club area, the pregame plaza was...difficult. It was super hot outside, and with few shade options to be found, the BlueClaws team store was the only place to “cool down” - which I put in quotes because when a hundred people are trying to cool off at the same time, it’s not exactly "easy" to do so. I did get to briefly talk to Party Animals broadcaster Drake Toll however, which was honestly a highlight of the entire night (partially as I got to mention RIKUU and the Hyannis Harbor Hawks, who Toll did games for a few years ago²). Unfortunately, I also ended up breaking the news to him that Rikuu was sent back to the Minor Leagues the day after that game in Philly...

This game marks the first time I've seen Banana Ball WITHOUT its signature team (the Savannah Bananas) as well as the first time I'd seen it in a Minor League Baseball stadium, which is VERY important because I've heard that the Banana Ball experience is better at Minor League stadiums (which was proven to a certain extent by my Cosmic Baseball experience). There are a LOT of factors that go into why that is, but I think one of them is the fact that a good 50-60% of the crowd at a bigger stadium is too far removed from the action to be able to enjoy it, and even as someone in the "good seats" (thanks to the K Club), the relative lack of energy is noticeable (or at least it was at Yankee Stadium).

I've also heard that "once you've seen one Banana Ball team, you've seen them all"...and I can see why people say that (as well as the idea that Banana Ball is baseball mixed with RIDICULOUS sensory overload). The Coconuts (and by extension the Party Animals and other Banana Ball teams) do each have their own sets of "characters", but they all still feel a bit underutilized (save for mascots and maybe each team's "resident band" - though the Party Animals seemingly only had their mascot for this game³). In addition, a lot of the pregame stuff seemed like takeoffs of what the Bananas do in their pregame buildup - a game involving the upper deck, a kid hitting a little league home run, and a baby (though this one featured a mix of the theme from Jaws and Baby Shark).

MERCH

I usually save this for the end, but (I hope) you'll understand why I moved this up once you get to the end of this post. Anyhoo...

The tropical theme of the Coconuts extends down to their merch: their "debut" jersey and hat both feature floral print on them. However, the merch stands here featured a pinstriped jersey which, to my knowledge, is not available online as of this post's publish date. Also, for whatever reason, the Coconuts have two different colors of minibat (which I haven't seen for any of the other Banana Ball teams).

Each team had three merchandise stands: one each in the plaza outside the stadium, one in left field (which I'm not sure I've mentioned before, but has a rather open area that I'm not fully certain as to what it's used for), and then the last stands were in different places. The Coconuts had a stand right outside the BlueClaws team store (inside the stadium proper), while the Party Animals had one in right field (near some "specialized" concession stands).

The game itself

I wasn't expecting there to be any special guests(as this was a MUCH "smaller" game than the last few Banana Ball games I've attended), but to my surprise, the Party Animals brought out former Major Leaguer and South Jersey native Todd Frazier for an at bat! I was also hoping that Victorino would get a chance at the plate (again, former Phillie in the stadium of a Phillies affiliate), but I think he was one of the field coaches (though I liked that he wore a BlueClaws hat for this game).

In order to explain what exactly happened (and why I saved it for the end of this post), I have to mention another rule unique to Banana Ball (which I don't think I've discussed yet), and this one combines the "each inning is worth a point" scoring the game uses with the trick plays the game is known for.

If the "visiting" team (i.e. the team that bats first every inning) has more trick plays than the home team (the team that bats second) heading into the final inning, they will earn a bonus "equalizer point". This came into play for this game, as the Party Animals were down 3-0 after six but then won the seventh and eighth innings, and combined with them earing this equalizer point, meant that despite the Coconuts outscoring the Party Animals in terms of "raw" runs scored through eight and a half innings⁴, this game found itself in the bottom of the ninth inning (which should not have happened had this game been scored "the traditional way").

There, the Coconuts ended up winning anyway on the four most exciting words in baseball:

WALK.

OFF.

HOME.

RUN.

One other note: the postgame plaza at smaller stadiums apparently features player appearances (neither Fenway Park nor Yankee Stadium did), but I couldn't hang around because I had to go home as THIS post was on a bit of a "tighter" schedule than most posts on this blog¹.

ON DECK

It is very likely that there's not going to be anything new on this blog for a bit. I'll explain why soon enough (assuming that this ends up holding true).