What MLB Could Learn From the Savannah Bananas

Ask any fan what they’d want to change about Major League Baseball and you’d hear mostly the same answers: The games take too long. The pace of play is too slow. Too many strikeouts leading to less action on the field… Enter the Savannah Bananas, a team that is thrilling fans by turning baseball into part-circus, part-professional wrestling with a dash of Harlem Globetrotters mixed in. Since arriving in the Coastal Plain League in 2016, the Savannah Bananas have sold out every night with over 4,000 fans in attendance and have a waitlist for tickets in the thousands. The team has become known for their Dancing Players, Dad Bod Cheerleading Squad, Banana Nanas Senior Citizen Dance Team, and Breakdancing First Base Coach. In 2021, The Bananas even launched a new version of baseball, Banana Ball – a new spin on the sport with a two-hour time limit where there are no walks, no bunting, and fans can catch foul balls for outs. It’s all part of a philosophy that puts fan entertainment first, and isn’t afraid to break any of baseball’s sacred traditions - and Alden Gonzalez joins us to explain how the Bananas could be changing the sport for the better.

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