Who are the Firefighters?
Jesse Cole announced the Firefighters on October 5, 2023, after his own kids' fascination with firefighters gave him the idea for a team that honors the fire service. The club debuted on May 30, 2024 against the Savannah Bananas at Grayson Stadium, and beginning in 2025 it has played its own independent schedule rather than serving only as the Bananas' opponent.
The identity is literal. Players wear firefighter helmets at the plate instead of batting helmets, the red uniforms carry yellow accents modeled on reflective turnout gear, and ladders show up as props in the celebrations. The roster deliberately includes people with fire-service ties, and the team says it plays in memory of fallen firefighters, including the 343 lost on September 11.
Firefighters coaching and style of play
Head coach Valerie Perez is the first woman to lead a Banana Ball team. A Corpus Christi, Texas firefighter who joined the fire service in 2015 and a member of the USA Baseball Women's National Team, she also plays for the club and has signed to play for Team New York in the Women's Professional Baseball League's inaugural 2026 season, which begins in August. That combination — a working firefighter who can also hit — is the whole Firefighters pitch in one person.
On the field the Firefighters are built around pitching depth and fast, aggressive baserunning, the style that carried them through the 2025 playoffs. Through mid-August 2026 they owned the league's worst point differential at -27 but had won four straight and gone 6-4 over their last ten, per Savannah Bananas On SI, which is the kind of late surge that decides the fourth playoff spot.
Notable Firefighters players
- Mat Wolf — an Oklahoma City firefighter and fourth-generation member of the fire service who spent three seasons with the Savannah Bananas before being traded to the Firefighters, where he is one of the active firefighters on the roster.
- Valerie Perez — head coach and player; see above.
The full 2026 Firefighters roster — catchers, infielders, outfielders and the pitching staff — with live batting and pitching lines is on the Firefighters roster page.
Firefighters 2026 season
The Firefighters' breakout came in October 2025. They upset the Savannah Bananas in the Showdown tiebreaker in the first Banana Ball playoff game to reach the Tour Championship final, then lost 4–0 to the Party Animals at Grayson Stadium. That run is the storyline they carried into the first Banana Ball Championship League season.
The 2026 regular season runs from late February through August 29, with the Firefighters visiting the Bananas at Grayson Stadium on March 7 and playing the Party Animals in Billings, Montana in August in a series that Savannah Bananas On SI flagged as a potential swing point in the playoff race. The top four teams by winning percentage advance to the October playoffs; the bracket has not yet been announced, and the Banana Bowl is October 10, 2026 at Nationals Park. See the standings and playoff picture for their live status.
Firefighters games stream free on the official Firefighters YouTube channel; our where to watch the Firefighters page lists each game's platform.