Jon and Braden Akin of Atlanta arrived at Las Vegas Ballpark at 4 p.m. Friday to secure the best seats available, making the journey well worth their while – thousands turned out for an exhibition game between Savannah Bananas and Party Animals which sold-out.
Savannah’s minor league baseball team, The Bananas, have become viral sensations thanks to their eccentric in-game antics and online fame. Players swing flaming bats during games while pitching from stilts. Their choreographed dance routines designed specifically for video app TikTok have drawn in millions of followers (the Bananas currently boast over 6 million on TikTok; surpassing every MLB franchise by far!).
Once a game starts, the Bananas often indulge in acts that would get any big-league club in trouble – like filling their batting cages with banana peels and having players parade past home plate like they own the place, which would likely earn them an immediate beaning back home but is treated with near reverence here.
Not content with that, the Bananas also boast an amazing team of “dance monkeys”, who perform incredible acrobatic moves between pitches in an effort to dazzle fans with mind-bending music videos-esque visuals. Other entertainers on display at games include Maceo the Dancing First-Base Coach and Banana Nanas — retired line-dancing retirees that perform like senior versions of Harlem Globetrotters — while performing behind their dugout like senior versions of Harlem Globetrotters themselves!
Beyond all of the off-field shenanigans, there is also an actual baseball game being played between all of this crazy activity – much to my own amazement and initial skepticism, I find out that Bananas actually play quite an excellent game!
The Bananas, winners of the 2021 CPL title, typically play against an opposing team known as Party Animals that serves as their opponent much like how Washington Generals and Harlem Globetrotters match up in NBA action. Rival teams may vary city by city while playing formats can change too with Banana Ball featuring nine rule changes designed to speed play up and points awarded for innings won rather than runs scored – an exciting concept which helped lead them to two consecutive championships in CPL play!