If you missed your chance to the see the Savannah Bananas during their sold-out performance at Citizens Bank Park in September, mark your calendars for July. The traveling, barnstorming baseball team is coming back to Philadelphia in 2025 as part of an expanded Banana Ball tour.
The Savannah Bananas are baseball's answer to the Harlem Globetrotters of basketball fame. They turn the basic rules and concepts of baseball into a circus-style performance packed with fan engagement, special guests and impressive tricks on the field.
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The exhibition league announced Wednesday they'll return to Citizens Bank Park on July 26-27. Their sold-out appearance in South Philly on Sept. 21 was the biggest event in Banana Ball's eight-year history. The night included guest appearances from former Phillies champions Ryan Howard, Joe Blanton and Shane Victorino, who hit a walk-off hit to roaring applause.
Banana Ball is full of fun quirks. There's a two-hour time limit that caps the number of innings in each game. When fans catch foul balls, batters are ruled out. There are no walks, no mound visits, no stepping out of the batter's box and no bunts allowed, but batters can boldly dash to steal first base. Players sometimes step up to the plate on stilts. They do backflips onto home plate and celebrate with dances. There's a Golden Batter Rule that allows one designated hitter to enter the lineup once per game at any time when needed most.
The entire premise is to energize the crowd and play up the atmosphere of the cities where games are played. During the stop in Philly, the Bananas and their traveling opponents, the Party Animals, worked up the crowd by singing "Dancing On My Own" in honor of the Phillies. They also simulated versions of the Eagles' Philly Special play and the Brotherly Shove.
During next year's tour, the Bananas and Party Animals will be part of a four-team Banana Ball Championship League that will run for eight months across 40 cities. It will include stops at 18 MLB ballparks, multiple college football stadiums and two NFL stadiums — giving the growing sport a chance to draw even more fans. The league will expand to six teams in 2026.
A livestream revealing the Bananas' 2025 schedule had more than 150,000 viewers on Thursday night. Other stops in the region include Allentown's Coca-Cola park, home of the Phillies' Triple-A affiliate Lehigh Valley IronPigs, on July 5-6; Baltimore's Camden Yards on Aug. 1-2; and Pittsburgh's PNC Park on Aug. 29-30.
Opportunities to buy Savanah Bananas' tickets are offered through a lottery sign-up system due to high demand. The lottery will remain open for sign-ups until Nov. 1. The league also holds random ticket drawings in advance of some events.