How the Savannah Bananas left me more hopeful than ever for baseball

An ode to Banana Ball

Thirty minutes before the first pitch at Nationals Park Saturday night my family and I settled into our seats in Section 103, out in the left-field bleachers.

But we were just in time for the start of the show.

This was not a Nationals game, but rather the second of two nights the Savannah Bananas were in town. We were among the lucky few to get tickets — thanks in large part to SB Nation legend David Fucillo — and wanted to make sure we caught every minute we could of the action.

And you cannot blink, for you might miss something at a Bananas game.

The entire night is an assault on the senses, as the non-stop action starts with the show before the game — complete with the “Banana Baby,” a tribute to Disney’s The Lion King involving a baby in a banana suit and both teams on the field paying homage — and continues in between innings, and even during play itself.

But our group, which included a rising high school freshman playing on two baseball teams this summer and a younger sister who despises getting dragged to two teams’ worth of games, loved every moment.

Sure, some purists may hate “Banana Ball,” as the rules frown on walks, eliminate bunts, remove almost all of the strategic elements that make baseball the “thinking person’s game,” and provide an incentive for the players on the field to try trick plays as much as possible.

But a Bananas game truly offers something for everyone. Because while my daughter loved every song — the music is non-stop — every dance, every sing-along, and every attempt at a viral TikTok moment, my son was amazed at the talent of the players on the field.

His favorite Banana, Robert Anthony Cruz, or “Coach RAC,” started in front of us in left field and opened the game just casually catching a fly ball to him mid-flip. Not only was my son amazed at that play, but two plays from Jackson Olson at second base — a position my son plays — left him thrilled: First a bare-handed catch of a line drive in shallow right field and later a tough play Olson made on a slow roller, where he had to charge a ground ball and barehand it before a behind-the-back throw just beat the runner at first.

You can see those two plays here:

What truly amazed my son was the fact that while all the showy elements and trick plays are happening, there is still good fundamental baseball taking place. Throws hitting the cutoff man, footwork both in the field and at the plate, and hitters going the other way on pitches on the outer half of the plate. Those two plays we mentioned from Olson? They only happened thanks to his footwork and fundamentals.

But as we soaked it all in over the two-plus hours — the games are played with a two-hour time limit — something else hit me.

The next generation.

As someone who has coached baseball for almost a decade now, and spent many afternoons and nights wondering about the future of the game, I could not help but notice all the young fans in attendance, as their love for the game of my youth was sparked in front of them. Young fans wearing Bananas hats, Bananas jerseys, cheering on every single pitch, locked into the game for all nine innings. Young fans laughing, smiling, and locked in for every moment.

Saturday night at Nationals Park was not about travel teams, or rec leagues, or tryouts for select teams, or the latest training gadget that can improve a player’s bat speed and exit velocity, or moving on from the game altogether.

No, Saturday night at Nationals Park was all about taking a game, making it new, and making it something that sparks the imagination and captures the heart.

And I even saw some older fans become kids again, at least for a few hours.

I loved every second I was there, and I left grateful for what nights like this might do for the game I love.