Two weekends ago, FSU gold took on a slightly more yellow hue. Over 74,000 fans, families, and potassium lovers of all ages took to Dick Howser Stadium and Doak Campbell to watch something reminiscent of baseball, if baseball had back-flipping umpires and the occasional TikTok dance.
The Savannah Bananas kicked off their 2026 World Tour in Tallahassee, bringing three nights of Banana Ball, something I’d consider a mere cousin to baseball. The matchup on Saturday, Feb. 28, and their Lone Star opponents in the Texas Tailgaters, attracted a crowd of more than 60,000 to watch what was the first non-football event held in the renovated Doak Campbell Stadium.
Who are the Savannah Bananas?
Perhaps the most successful “crop” Georgia has ever exported, the Savannah Bananas are a wildly popular barnstorming baseball team who put their own theatrical spin on America’s pastime. Originally a collegiate summer baseball team under the Coastal Plain League, Banana Ball emerged as an experiment to make baseball fast-paced, fun, and perhaps a bit less daunting as a traditionally three to three and a half hour affair.
Banana Ball is played under a unique set of rules distinct from traditional baseball, including a match play format, a two-hour time limit, and a sworn vow against bunting — that’s right, all Banana Ball players are expected to swing for the fences.
The trademark “fans first mentality” of this baseball variant is what puts it into a league of its own. The game is designed to keep fans engaged and give them opportunities to take part in the action; from having in-game photo-ops with players in the grandstands (because it didn’t happen if you didn’t get a selfie) to finally getting their “put me in coach” moment by catching foul balls for real outs.
While acrobatics or a knack for TikTok-ing aren’t official rules of the sport, they can certainly increase one’s prospects of making it big in Banana land. Banana Baseball is known for its trick plays, pre-pitch dances, and in-game promotions, the baby race being a personal favorite.
The success of Banana Ball, which was watched in-person by over 2 million fans in 2025, has led to the league’s expansion into six different squads. In the Banana Ball Championship League, the Bananas are joined by the Party Animals, Firefighters, Texas Tailgaters, Indianapolis Clowns, and a fruit-named counterpart in the Loco Beach Coconuts.
In games one and two of the Bananas’ Tallahassee series, Loco Beach took the win in a Firefighters-Coconuts showdown, and the Clowns defeated the Party Animals under Friday night lights at Dick Howser Stadium.
The Tallahassee to Savannah Pipeline
The trip to Tallahassee was a homecoming for a few Bananas, including former Florida A&M baseball standouts Malachi Mitchell and Ty Jackson, ex-Tallahassee State Eagle Tanner Thomas, and former Seminole Logan Lacey.
Lacey, a Firefighter who played third base for the Noles from 2020 to 2022, settled back into the hot corner at Dick Howser Stadium on Thursday night and made the first trick play of the Bananas’ 2026 season. Discussing his return to Tallahassee with WCTV, Lacey said, “I almost teared up a little bit, like ‘oh my God, I get to go home. I get to do this all over with my family,’ so I was excited.”
How did the Bananas fare in Tallahassee?
The Bananas’ sold-out show at Doak Campbell resulted in a five-to-three Bananas win over the Tailgaters, complete with a handful of homeruns, a cellphone flashlight-lit singalong to Coldplay’s “Yellow,” a successful marriage proposal, and the inaugural stadium-wide war chant of 2026.
The weekend brought over 80,000 visitors to Tallahassee, which I’m sure isn’t a shock to anyone who sat in Saturday evening traffic two weeks ago, and is projected to have had an economic impact of millions on the city.
As the squad embarks on the remainder of its world tour, with a two-day stint in Savannah next in line after its Tallahassee takeover, one thing’s for sure: it has left behind a Tallahassee that’s a little more yellow and a whole lot more bananas.
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