Who are the Savannah Bananas?
The Savannah Bananas were founded in 2016 by Jesse and Emily Cole, owners of Fans First Entertainment, when they took over the summer collegiate franchise at Historic Grayson Stadium (1401 E. Victory Drive, Savannah, GA). The club spent its first seven summers in the Coastal Plain League and won the league's Petitt Cup three times — in 2016, 2021 and 2022 — before leaving college summer ball after the 2022 season to play Banana Ball full time.
Banana Ball itself was created in 2020, when the Bananas rewrote the rulebook for their own exhibition games: a two-hour clock, no bunting, no walks, fans catching foul balls for outs, and a points-per-inning scoring system. Every other team in the league plays by the rules the Bananas wrote, which is why the yellow jerseys are still the brand most fans picture when they hear the words "Banana Ball." You can read the whole rulebook on our Banana Ball rules page.
Jesse Cole, the man in the yellow tuxedo, is now commissioner of the Banana Ball Championship League as well as the face of the Bananas. The club's social reach is the largest in the sport — more than 10 million TikTok followers as of 2025, more than MLB's own account — and its games have aired on ESPN, truTV, The CW and Disney+.
Savannah Bananas style of play
The Bananas play fast and loose. Choreographed dances between innings, a pep band, the Man-Nanas dad-bod cheer squad and the senior-citizen Banana Nanas are part of every show, but the game underneath is unscripted and competitive. Players are expected to hit, field and pitch while also learning the dance breaks, and the roster skews toward former college and minor-league players who can do both.
Manager Tyler Gillum runs the dugout, with Adam Virant and Reginald Horton on the coaching staff. Savannah has historically been strong at Grayson Stadium — through mid-August 2026 the Bananas were 14-9 at home and 12-13 on the road, according to Savannah Bananas On SI — which matters in a league where most games are played in MLB parks, football stadiums and minor-league ballparks far from Georgia.
Notable Savannah Bananas players
- Dakota "Stilts" Albritton — the "World's Tallest Baseball Player," who bats, fields and pitches on stilts that put him at 10 feet 9 inches.
- Jackson Olson — infielder and one of the most-watched entertainers on the roster; he is competing on the fall 2026 season of "Dancing with the Stars" on ABC and Disney+.
- Bill LeRoy — longtime Bananas catcher and a fixture of the touring roster.
- Kelsie Whitmore — the two-way player who joined the Bananas' pitching group and became one of the first women to play full-time Banana Ball.
- Jocelyn Alo — the NCAA career home-run leader, who signed a one-month contract in 2024 as the first woman to play for the Bananas.
- Kyle "KJ" Jackson and RobertAnthony "Coach RAC" Cruz — entertainment-first players who anchor the between-innings show.
The full, live Savannah Bananas roster with 2026 batting and pitching lines is in the table above and on the Savannah Bananas roster page.
Savannah Bananas 2026 season
The 2026 Banana Ball World Tour opened on February 26 at Dick Howser Stadium in Tallahassee and runs through the regular-season finale at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough on August 29, where the Bananas face the Loco Beach Coconuts. Along the way the club plays in 14 MLB parks and several football stadiums, including a Walt Disney World stop at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex on May 29–30 and a three-game weekend at Globe Life Field in Arlington on September 25–27.
On the field, the Bananas spent the summer chasing the Texas Tailgaters for first place. The Tailgaters won the April Banana Ball Open — beating Savannah in the final — and locked up the automatic playoff berth, so the Bananas are playing for seeding in the top four. The top four teams by winning percentage reach the October playoffs, and the season ends with the first Banana Bowl at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, October 10, 2026, streaming on Disney+ and the Banana Ball YouTube channel. Follow the race on the Banana Ball standings and the BBCL guide.
Every Bananas game streams free on the Savannah Bananas YouTube channel; selected games also air on ESPN platforms. Our where to watch the Savannah Bananas page lists the platform for each upcoming game, and the Banana Ball Reminder app will ping you before first pitch.