What counts as a trick play
A trick play in Banana Ball is a defensive play made with a deliberate flourish that still gets the job done. The commonly recognized categories include behind-the-back catches, between-the-legs catches and throws, bare-handed catches, backflip and cartwheel catches, bounce throws, under-the-leg throws, "tornado" spin catches, tip-drill catches (where a fielder intentionally tips the ball to himself), catches made in a hat or in the jersey, and trick pitches. The common thread is that the fielder does something unnecessary and difficult on purpose, and the play still results in an out.
That last part is the rule that matters. A trick play has to produce an out to count. A spectacular between-the-legs snag on a foul ball that lands out of play is entertainment; a between-the-legs snag that retires the batter is a trick play. Likewise, a behind-the-back throw that sails into the dugout is an error, not a trick play attempt that "almost counted." This is what keeps the statistic honest — players are rewarded for pulling it off, not for trying.
The league has not published a detailed scoring manual defining every category, so exactly where a fancy play stops being routine is a judgment call by the official scorer. Pitchers' trick pitches (behind-the-back deliveries, for example) are tracked when they result in an out. A clean routine catch with a small hop of celebration is not a trick play.
Why trick plays matter on the scoreboard
For most of Banana Ball's history trick plays were a counted-but-cosmetic statistic: teams had trick-play leaders and awards, but the plays never changed a score. That changed in October 2025 with the Equalizer point. Under the Equalizer, if the visiting team has executed more trick plays than the home team through the first eight innings, the visitors receive one extra point before the ninth inning begins. The rule was introduced by Jesse Cole for the 2025 playoffs, explicitly to make sure teams kept taking risks on defense when the pressure was highest, and it became a permanent rule for the 2026 Banana Ball Championship League season. The full mechanics are on our scoring page.
The practical effect is that a trick play in the second inning can decide a game in the ninth. A visiting team that leads the trick-play count 3-1 after eight innings walks into the final frame a point better off, and in a sport where games are routinely decided by one point, that is enormous. It also gives the visiting team something to chase all night: the count is shown on broadcasts, and a late-inning attempt to pull ahead in trick plays is a strategic choice, not just a show.
Why trick plays matter in the standings
Trick plays matter a second time at the end of the season. The BBCL ranks its six teams by winning percentage, and when two teams are tied the league applies these tiebreakers in order: head-to-head record, total successful trick plays, point differential, and head-to-head trick plays. Trick plays are the second tiebreaker — ahead of point differential — and the fourth as well. With only four playoff spots and records bunched as tightly as they were in 2026, the trick-play column on the standings page is a real factor in who reaches October. We list each team's season total as "Tricks" in the table.
How teams and players are scored on trick plays
- One trick play, one out. Each successful trick play is credited to the player who completed it and to his team. The league has not published how it scores a single out that involves more than one flourish, so assume one out, one trick play.
- Team totals feed the Equalizer and the standings. The game count through eight innings decides the Equalizer; the season total is the standings tiebreaker.
- Individual totals are tracked for awards. Banana Ball recognizes a season trick-play champion, and the individual leaderboards are part of the league's stats coverage.
- Ninth-inning trick plays still count toward season totals even though the Equalizer is decided after eight.
Our site reads team trick-play totals from the league's official stats feed. We do not have per-matchup trick-play data, so the fourth tiebreaker (head-to-head trick plays) is described on the standings page rather than computed.
Famous trick plays and records
If you want one name, it is Ryan Cox, the Savannah Bananas infielder who has turned the trick play into a career. According to Sports Illustrated's Savannah Bananas coverage, Cox set the single-season record with 207 trick plays on the 2024 tour and was named the league's Trick Play Champion; he set the single-game record with eight trick plays in one game at Rate Field in Chicago; and he has since become the first player in Banana Ball history to reach 500 career trick plays. Between-the-legs catches at shortstop and behind-the-back flips to first are his signatures.
Beyond Cox, the plays that travel furthest on social media tend to be outfield catches: the backflip catch, where a fielder settles under a fly ball, flips, and completes the catch on landing, is the one that reliably goes viral and draws comparisons to big-league fielders. The Bananas publish an annual "Top 25 Trick Plays" compilation on the Banana Ball YouTube channel, which is the best place to see a season's worth of them. The other five BBCL clubs — the Party Animals, Firefighters, Texas Tailgaters, Indianapolis Clowns, and Loco Beach Coconuts — all have trick-play specialists of their own, and the Equalizer has made them just as valuable on the road as the Bananas' stars are at home.
How trick plays interact with the other rules
- The designated fielder. The 2026 designated fielder rule lets a team bring a bench player onto the field at any position once a game without penalty — a direct way to get a trick-play specialist into the lineup for the innings that decide the Equalizer.
- The two-hour clock. Trick plays do not stop the clock. A botched attempt that lets a runner advance costs time as well as bases, which is why teams attempt them most with two outs or nobody on.
- The fan catch. A fan's clean catch of a foul ball is an out but is not a trick play; only players earn them.
- The Showdown. Trick plays in a Showdown do not affect the Equalizer, which was settled after eight innings, but a behind-the-back catch with one fielder on the grass is the kind of play that wins a round.
To see where each team stands in the trick-play race and how it affects the playoff picture, check the standings, the BBCL hub, and each team page.