Professional Banana Ball Comes To Texas

Residents in Texas are a different breed when it comes to sports and fandom.  A lot of us will blindly follow a team regardless of how long it's been since the team has been successful.  **COUCH COUGH Dallas Cowboy fans COUGH COUGH**  That alone is not easy within itself; however, many Texans are die-hard fans.

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What Is Banana Ball?

In recent years, Banana Ball has become more and more popular.  Founded in 2016, the Savanna Bananas quickly made a name for themselves by playing a variant of baseball that is very different from a traditional baseball game.  This game is very interactive with fans and has an alternative set of rules.  The Savanna Bananas have been dubbed with the moniker "We make baseball fun!"  The Bananas have accumulated almost 10 million TikTok followers due to multiple videos of theirs going viral.  That is more followers than literally every MLB team on the platform.

@thesavbananas How’d we do @Jaredmccain24? 😮‍💨 #savannahbananas #jaredmccain #trending #bananaball #foryou #76ers ♬ original sound - c

What Are Some Of The Rules?

The rules of Banana Ball are exceedingly different from regular, organized professional baseball.

• Entertainment- Players are not shy about dancing on the field.  There have even been incidents where players do more than dance.  This can include pitchers playing the game while on stilts, players involved with adding props to certain aspects of t he game, or especially involving fans anyway they can.
• No Walks- In normal baseball, 3 balls thrown from the pitcher will earn them a walk to first base.  In Banana Ball, that does not exist.
• Game Time Limit-  The games are all set for a 2-hour duration.  The inning or the core is irrelevant.  Once 2 hours elapse, the game is over.
• Fans Make Rules-  Oftentimes, fans are called upon to make decisions regarding the game.  For example, if there is a close call, the fans may be called upon to decide the fate of whatever is at stake.
• Points Matter, Not Runs- In traditional baseball, runs are equivalent to 1 point.  In Banana Ball, the team with the most runs of any given inning gets 1 point, regardless of how many runs were scored.
• No Bunts-  Bunts are strictly prohibited in Banana Ball.

 

 

 

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Texas Gets A Professional Team

The professional Banana Ball league has exploded in popularity in recent years.  Texas now has a team called The Texas Tailgaters.  It is not home-based or representing any Texas city in particular.  However, we assume that if more Texas teams were brought into the league, then that would change.  The Texas Tailgaters make their debut on the upcoming season starting in May 2025.