The Savannah Bananas, the team that went viral playing a hilarious brand of baseball, are coming this Sunday to a streamer near you.
Could there be a more exciting Fourth of July weekend, America? No. No, there could not be.
Sunday at 12:30 p.m. local time, 3:30 p.m. Eastern, the Bananas have a rematch against the Firefighters, the team they played at Anaheim Stadium at the end of May. That game will go down at Boston’s Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox, and will be streamed live on the Roku Channel.
“We can’t wait to bring the fast-paced game of Banana Ball to new fans all over the country on Roku!” Savannah Bananas owner Jesse Cole said in a news release. “And you better believe that we’ve got some surprises in store for Fenway!”
Guess there’s little or no reason, except maybe having no internet access, to wait until the CW does its own broadcast of the Bananas playing the Texas Tailgaters on July 27 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
“Banana Ball” — for those who don’t have TikTok, Instagram, Facebook Reels, X or any Bananas-loving real-world friends — incorporates humor, gymnastics, lip-syncs and snappy dance choreography in an exhibition baseball game with rules that definitely don’t match those of Major League Baseball (though many of the players once had MLB aspirations).
Only the Bananas deliver baby races, a dancing umpire and backflips before balls are caught in the outfield. Can’t get that in Oklahoma City. Plus the games are limited to two hours max, something even the much-loved MLB pitch clock can’t deliver.
This year, the team has sold out 18 major league ballparks, plus three football stadiums with capacities of more than 70,000.
Tickets typically are available only through a lottery — and last time we checked the wait-list for that lottery, it was more than 3 million names long. Try to join it now and the Bananas website will tell you sure, go ahead, but be prepared to hold your horses till next season, my friend. Last season’s games drew a million fans total.
“There is truly no sports experience with the same action as a Savannah Bananas game,” said Joe Franzetta, the head of Roku Media’s sports division, in the news release. “We look forward to using the power of our platform to amplify the game directly to both die-hard audiences and millions of new fans about to discover something special.”
As owner Cole told The Times back in 2022, “We’ve always been very clear about our goal. We exist to make baseball fun.”
Folks with a Roku TV or who stream through a Roku device should be good to go for Sunday’s free broadcast. The Roku Channel can also be accessed online at TheRokuChannel.com and on iOS and Android devices and various and sundry smart TVs.
And remember to set your DVR to record the CW on July 27.
Former Times reporting fellow Anthony De Leon contributed to this report.
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