Banana Ball Conclusions
My personal thoughts on Banana Ball
This is the final part of a multi-part post. You can easily access the other parts here:
So now that I've spent SO MUCH TIME discussing Banana Ball, what do I think? Is it truly the next greatest thing in baseball, or a giant waste of time and energy?
Overall...
I did enjoy the Banana Ball experience.
However, I must say that the best way to describe the experience has to be...paradoxical.
On the one hand, it REALLY feels like the entertainment distracts from the sport being played. Outside of the foul ball thing, it really felt like the crowd wasn’t paying too much attention to the game outside of the times the players did things to get their attention (as well as the Red Sox guests - whose presence didn’t engage the entire audience as a lot of folks in the crowd don’t know them). Part of that was the fact that music was blaring the entire time - something you usually don’t see in pro sports (unless you’ve been to an NLL game).
It’s honestly kind of a shame, as I feel like there is actually an incredibly unique sport underneath all the antics. One of the biggest issues with baseball (at least for me) is the lack of definitive timing. This year alone, I went to a few games where nine innings were played in just over two hours (Brooklyn and Reading), and I’ve been to a game where it took almost three hours to play seven innings (Jersey Shore). Because of this, I think that baseball is the sport that fans feel LEAST guilty about leaving early, as they have no clue when the game is actually going to end (personally, it’s the ONLY sport that I ever leave early); having rules that emphasize speed of play help make going to a baseball game much more digestible (i.e. more “bang for your buck”). I also feel that there’s room to improve some of the rules, but I’m not so sure how to go about that as it involves some of MLB’s most infamous recent additions (such as the “ghost runner” for whichever team is trailing in the ninth or using the pitch clock so teams don’t just “time out” the game).
On the other hand, there are glaring issues with the presentation. The most common criticism I have heard is that the Banana Ball experience is, by and large, not well suited to larger stadiums with upper decks/outfield seats (keyword here being “heard”). The issue with sitting in these areas is that you’re removed from a lot of the more interactive parts of the game, as they all occur around the lower areas of the infield. Plus, when you can’t clearly see what’s happening on the field, you’re left having paid good money to just stare at the Jumbotron and watch what's essentially a TV broadcast. If you’re not there for the actual game of “baseball” (which, seemingly, a lot of the fans AREN’T), it’s very difficult to enjoy having a heavily muted experience (especially given how hard it is to get in).
Unfortunately, the demand means that if the Bananas can get a big stadium, it’s the right thing to do so that as many people can attend as possible (heck, they’ve managed to sell out FOOTBALL stadiums). This is why getting into the K Club is becoming increasingly important (and harder): most of the “good seats” don’t get past the K Club (remembering that VIB tickets didn’t even get to some members of the K Club), so if you want a good experience, it’s the only way to get it a lot of the time. The team does try to do certain things from these sections (like a “banana toss” event where players have to toss bananas from the upper deck to someone on the field), so it seems like they’re trying to address this issue.
Word on the street is that the upcoming league is going to focus on minor league stadiums, so that may also help - especially if it can get more fans into games. However, non-Bananas games are going to need to be watched CLOSELY to ensure that the league/sport isn’t being cannibalized by the runaway popularity of the Bananas (who have far more Instagram followers than the other three teams COMBINED). They’re likely stuck with the bigger venues due to this, so if demand for them is heavily outpacing demand for the sport as a whole, then that’s likely to be a problem.
In addition, some of the characters are VASTLY underutilized (looking at you Princess Potassia). I will note that there was a post game event that featured only the characters, but most fans were headed home by then (probably because it was specified that the players were NOT going to be present). I think they’d benefit from more time in the (literal) sun (and maybe the addition of a villain/heel that’s not just the Party Animals), but that may have to be a spin-off, and who knows how that would go...
One thing to keep in mind with all of this, however, is the mantra that drives everything the Bananas do:
Fans First.
Baseball is a sport that, like it or not, is becoming more driven by money and control. A lot of fans can’t go to MLB games anymore because the price for tickets is far too high to justify and/or the commitments aren’t worth it anymore (especially with teams raising prices every year and ticket scalpers prowling about). The minor leagues were changed drastically in 2020 in what was largely viewed as the beginnings of a hostile takeover by MLB (after all, many markets were left without affiliated teams, and the ones that stayed now have to upgrade their facilities or lose affiliation). There’s also an organization that has been buying up minor league teams left and right; as of this writing, they own at least one affiliate of 23 of MLB”s 30 teams. While their eventual goal for their operations is unknown, fears about their true intentions abound.
College baseball is not immune to the effects of this either, and that’s not just because NIL is changing the landscape. Coaches and players are dancing around injury concerns, and this combined with a power struggle between the summer leagues (where players typically use wooden bats for the first time) and the powers that be has affected that landscape significantly. I saw an article the day before this posted about how the summer leagues are facing declining participation, as college coaches are telling their players to stay home and condition over the summer - and the ones that aren't are going to the summer leagues looking to sign transfer portal players, and then have THOSE players go home to condition.
All of these issues, of course, are minor to the root issue facing baseball: its flagging popularity. Despite steps to improve the pace of play, it is still viewed as a slow game that, outside of small moments of excitement, is largely boring. The ends of many games are often marked by empty seats as fans have already left due to it being 10:00 PM on a work night (this is why I think the two hour clock is important). By trying to make the fan experience as amazing as possible within a reasonable time frame, the Bananas are hoping to make people realize that baseball can be an interesting and fun sport. Is Banana Ball perfect? No - just look at how ticket selling has been going (i.e. WAY TOO well). However, the Bananas are committed to getting fans in at the price they think is right, trying to avoid having scalpers ruin the market, and make sure that their dedicated fans can get to games (or “shows” as the team refers to them) and have a good time.
It’s crazy to think that the Savannah Bananas have grown so much in just three years of Banana Ball-ing, let alone the decade they’ve been around. The fact that the Bananas have kinda sorta accidentally created an indy league is honestly kinda amazing, and I’m interested to see how things play out down the line - especially as they try to continue balancing entertainment with an honest-to-God, neat-as-blank sport.
Also, shout out to the two other people I saw while I was leaving the game wearing the CPL-era “Tequila Sunrise” jersey with the Georgia outline on the back - I thought I was the only one for the longest time! I didn’t see any other CPL-era hats however...
P.S.: Apparently another CPL team has seen the Bananas success and tried branching out as well, as the Tri-City Chili Peppers (located just south of Richmond, VA) recently introduced something called “Cosmic Baseball”. While the game is more or less just traditional baseball, what’s unique is that it’s played under black lights once it gets dark out. I almost tried to watch this in Allentown, PA, but getting in involves...a lottery. That I never entered.
If you've actually somehow made it all the way here, thank you. I realize that this was A TON to have to sit through (assuming you read it all and were not just jumping to my conclusions), but I honestly enjoyed doing this super deep dive into the Bananas and I'm hoping I can do something similar to this again (though given just how unique the ticket situation is, I don't know when that will be).
While this is the end of the Fenway chapter, it's not quite the end of the Banana Ball story for 2025. I happened to do something else a few weeks after this game related to the Bananas: EPILOGUE