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See the Savannah Bananas live this holiday weekend, via Roku

The Savannah Bananas, the team that went viral playing a hilarious brand of baseball, are coming this Sunday to a streamer near you.

Could there be a more exciting Fourth of July weekend, America? No. No, there could not be.

Sunday at 12:30 p.m. local time, 3:30 p.m. Eastern, the Bananas have a rematch against the Firefighters, the team they played at Anaheim Stadium at the end of May. That game will go down at Boston’s Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox, and will be streamed live on the Roku Channel.

“We can’t wait to bring the fast-paced game of Banana Ball to new fans all over the country on Roku!” Savannah Bananas owner Jesse Cole said in a news release. “And you better believe that we’ve got some surprises in store for Fenway!”

Guess there’s little or no reason, except maybe having no internet access, to wait until the CW does its own broadcast of the Bananas playing the Texas Tailgaters on July 27 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

“Banana Ball” — for those who don’t have TikTok, Instagram, Facebook Reels, X or any Bananas-loving real-world friends — incorporates humor, gymnastics, lip-syncs and snappy dance choreography in an exhibition baseball game with rules that definitely don’t match those of Major League Baseball (though many of the players once had MLB aspirations).

The Savannah Bananas, a minor league baseball club, went on their first ever “World Tour” this year, taking their unique brand of baseball to various cities across America.

Only the Bananas deliver baby races, a dancing umpire and backflips before balls are caught in the outfield. Can’t get that in Oklahoma City. Plus the games are limited to two hours max, something even the much-loved MLB pitch clock can’t deliver.

This year, the team has sold out 18 major league ballparks, plus three football stadiums with capacities of more than 70,000.

Tickets typically are available only through a lottery — and last time we checked the wait-list for that lottery, it was more than 3 million names long. Try to join it now and the Bananas website will tell you sure, go ahead, but be prepared to hold your horses till next season, my friend. Last season’s games drew a million fans total.

“There is truly no sports experience with the same action as a Savannah Bananas game,” said Joe Franzetta, the head of Roku Media’s sports division, in the news release. “We look forward to using the power of our platform to amplify the game directly to both die-hard audiences and millions of new fans about to discover something special.”

As owner Cole told The Times back in 2022, “We’ve always been very clear about our goal. We exist to make baseball fun.”

Folks with a Roku TV or who stream through a Roku device should be good to go for Sunday’s free broadcast. The Roku Channel can also be accessed online at TheRokuChannel.com and on iOS and Android devices and various and sundry smart TVs.

And remember to set your DVR to record the CW on July 27.

Former Times reporting fellow Anthony De Leon contributed to this report.

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The CW will broadcast Savannah Bananas baseball madness

Baseball isn’t boring and the CW isn’t stupid, at least when it comes to the Savannah Bananas, the Georgia-based team that has rewritten the rules around the classic American pastime. The network has picked up rights to broadcast the July 27 Bananas game at Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia.

“Banana Ball” incorporates humor, gymnastics, lip syncs and snappy dance choreography in a minor league baseball game with rules that definitely don’t match those of Major League Baseball — though many of the players once had MLB aspirations. This year the team has sold out 18 major league ballparks, plus three football stadiums with capacities of more than 70,000.

The CW in recent years has been leaning into live sports coverage, which has generally been delivering ratings results in a rapidly changing TV-viewing landscape. The network has the NASCAR Xfinity Series, WWE NXT on Tuesday nights, Grand Slam Track, AVP beach volleyball on summer Saturdays, ACC and Pac-12 football games in the fall and, starting next year, PBA professional bowling.

The Savannah Bananas come with a built-in audience earned via posts on TikTok, Facebook Reels and the like. The team has 10 million followers on TikTok alone.

The Savannah Bananas, a minor league baseball club, went on their first ever “World Tour” this year, taking their unique brand of baseball to various cities across America.

“We’ve always been very clear about our goal,” Bananas owner Jesse Cole told The Times in 2022. “We exist to make baseball fun.”

“It’s all about energy. We want to give people energy, delivering it every second, from the moment we open the gates at two o’clock until the last fan leaves at 11,” he added over the weekend, when the team played to a sellout crowd at Anaheim Stadium.

There’s definitely an audience appetite for the Savannah team: There are tickets available for games in August and September, but only through a lottery — and the wait list for the lottery is more than 3 million names long. Last season’s games drew a million fans total.

On Friday, the only way into the Anaheim game was through the resale market. Hours before the first pitch, the lowest price (fees and taxes included) for a pair of Bananas tickets on StubHub was $209.52, while it took a mere $171.72 to snag a pair of tickets to the Yankees-Dodgers series opener at Dodger Stadium the same night.

Who needs Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge anyway: Banana Ball has the Savannah team facing rival outfits the Texas Tailgaters, the Firefighters, the Party Animals and the Visitors.

And while Ohtani and Judge can be counted on for multiple home runs, only the Bananas deliver baby races, a dancing umpire and backflips before balls are caught in the outfield. Plus the games are limited to two hours max, something even the much-loved MLB pitch clock can’t deliver.

“The Savannah Bananas have taken the sports world by storm through their high-energy blend of baseball and entertainment that connects with viewers of all ages,” Mike Perman, senior vice president of CW Sports, said in a statement Tuesday.

“We are thrilled to partner with them for their broadcast television debut, and we cannot wait to bring our audience every unpredictable play in front of what promises to be an electric atmosphere in Philadelphia.”

“Banana Ball on The CW is a no-brainer,” Bananas owner Cole added in that news release. “After seeing their recent commitment to sports, we knew this could be a great partnership. With the speed and entertainment of Banana Ball, we look forward to creating new fans together in the years to come.”

Times staff writer David Wharton and Times fellow Anthony De Leon contributed to this report.



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