If you’ve seen “Banana Ball” climbing your search trends today, here’s why. Tonight the Savannah Bananas reveal where their traveling baseball circus goes in 2027, and a lot of fans are glued to their phones to see if their city made the cut.
Yeah, I’ve been following this thing. The schedule reveal is basically its own holiday at this point. Anyway, here’s what I know, what I don’t, and what to do the minute your city gets called.
When is the Banana Ball City Selection Show?
Write this down: Thursday, October 15, 2026. Six p.m. Eastern. It’s on ESPN2 and the official Banana Ball YouTube channel, live from Historic Grayson Stadium in Savannah, Georgia — the Bananas’ home park.
If you were hoping to just show up at Grayson, sorry. Local station WSAV reports the event is sold out. According to the Sports Illustrated Bananas site, the plaza opens at 4:30 p.m., gates at 5, and the show starts at 6, all Eastern time. One fair warning from that same guide: don’t assume the stadium start time and the TV start time are identical. Check your listings.
Second year they’ve done a City Selection Show. The first one set up the 2026 tour.
The 2027 city count
75. Give or take. Founder Jesse Cole — for those just catching up — put out a social post saying the organization got roughly 300 bids from places around the world hoping to host a game. So, you know, most of them are going home disappointed tonight.
Per Cole, what they look at is fan demand, the stadium itself, and the overall experience a venue can deliver. Which is to say — politely — that a packed big-league park beats a half-empty one.
As I’m writing this, the city list isn’t out yet. The official site still just says the schedule is “almost here.” I’ll update this post once the names are public, because I’m not going to guess.
Is Banana Ball coming back to Detroit?
Detroit fans have a real case. Banana Ball made its Motor City debut on September 18 and 19 at Comerica Park, with the Firefighters taking on the Party Animals. The Firefighters won both games, 5-4 and 3-2.
Here’s the part that stuck with me. Spectrum News reports the ticket lottery for those two games pulled in nearly 200,000 entries. Cole told them Detroit had some of the highest ticket demand of the whole 2026 tour, second only to Chicago’s Wrigley Field. He also said Banana Ball would be back in Detroit. He just didn’t say when.
So is a 2027 return a lock? Not officially. But if I were a Tigers fan who struck out on tickets in September, I’d be watching tonight with my fingers crossed.
How do you get Banana Ball tickets?
This is where people get tripped up. There’s no first-come, first-served on-sale. Everything runs through a random lottery.
Per the official Banana Ball help desk, it works like this:
- You pick one city of interest and submit an entry while the lottery is open.
- After it closes, entries are drawn at random. When you sign up doesn’t change your odds.
- If you’re picked, you get an email telling you how to buy during your assigned window.
The deadline to enter is October 31, 2026. Entering doesn’t guarantee you anything, and the help desk says entrants will hear from Fans First Tickets this winter. Purchases were capped at 5 tickets per person on the 2026 tour.
One more thing, and I mean this. Banana Ball only sells tickets through its own lottery and the Fans First Marketplace. The help desk flat out says most ticket offers on social media are scams, and tickets from third-party sites won’t be accepted at the gate. Seriously, don’t Venmo some stranger in a Facebook group for tickets.
The Banana Ball rules, explained in plain English
It’s baseball, but rebuilt for people with short attention spans. Like me. The official rulebook has 11 rules. My favorites:
- There’s a two-hour time limit. No new inning starts after two hours.
- Each inning is worth one point. Win the inning, get the point. In the last inning, every run counts.
- No walks. Ball four turns into a sprint while every fielder has to touch the ball.
- Bunt and you’re ejected. The rulebook literally says “Bunting sucks.”
- If a fan catches a foul ball cleanly, it’s an out.
There’s also a batter stealing first, a golden batter rule, and a showdown tiebreaker if it’s tied when time runs out. It sounds chaotic. It kind of is. That’s the point.
Which teams play Banana Ball?
The Banana Ball Championship League had six teams in its first season in 2026: the Savannah Bananas, Party Animals, Firefighters, Texas Tailgaters, Loco Beach Coconuts and Indianapolis Clowns.
Quick tip I wish more people knew. A Banana Ball game in your city doesn’t mean the Bananas are playing. Detroit got Firefighters vs. Party Animals, for example. Check the matchup before you promise your kids anything.
And if you missed it, the Texas Tailgaters beat the Bananas 2-1 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., on October 10 to win the first-ever Banana Bowl. The yellow guys don’t win everything after all.
Banana Ball 2027 FAQ
Where can I watch the 2027 city reveal?
ESPN2 and the Banana Ball YouTube channel, Thursday, October 15, at 6 p.m. ET.
When does the Banana Ball ticket lottery close?
October 31, 2026, according to the official help desk. Joining early doesn’t improve your chances.
Does getting picked in the lottery mean I have tickets?
No. Being drawn gets you a window to buy. You still have to complete the purchase, and you can buy up to 5 (the 2026 limit).