Savannah Bananas to play in Mexico and Canada in 2027

SAVANNAH — The Savannah Bananas are going international in 2027, taking their popular blend of baseball-carnival-dance party outside the U.S. for the first time.

The six-team, barnstorming Banana Ball Championship League, headed by the Savannah Bananas, will play exhibitions in the Mexican cities of Monterrey and Tijuana and the Canadian cities of Winnipeg and Toronto.

The BBCL drew 3.2 million spectators at Savannah’s Grayson Stadium and dozens of other venues across the U.S. this past season. Another sign of the league’s popularity: The Bananas’ annual city selection show at Grayson was broadcast live on ESPN2 Thursday night.

In 2027, there will be a total of 195 games, including 30 in Savannah, and games at 23 of the 30 MLB parks, including June 10 and June 11 at Truist Park in Atlanta. There will be games for the first time at Oracle Field in San Francisco, Tropicana Park in St. Petersburg, Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Rogers Centre in Toronto and Chase Field in Phoenix.

Some of the other highlights:

• ESPN announced the Bananas will play an exhibition during halftime at the College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan. 25 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
• Exhibition games will be held Feb. 2-15 in Monterrey and Tijuana.  
• The first regular-season game will be Feb. 27 at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium.
• The Banana Ball Open tournament will be held April 15-18 at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex in Kissimmee, Fla.
• A Disney movie, a documentary with the working title of “Banana Ball,” is in the works.
• The first Banana Ball All-Star Game will be June 2-4 in Savannah.
• The team is introducing Banana Ball 360, in which teams will play on two fields, switching every inning to improve viewing for fans. The first series will be June 24-26 at Notre Dame Stadium.
• The season-ending Banana Bowl will be held Sept. 25 at the new enclosed Nissan Stadium in Nashville, home of the city’s NFL team, the Tennessee Titans.
• There will be a postseason Bananas cruise in January 2028 to Puerto Rico, including a game in San Juan.

Team President Jared Orton said if all goes well, the league will be playing in front of 4.3 million fans in 2027.

“The international games are the headliner this year,” Orton said. “We’re already starting to think about 2028 and the cruise kind of jump-starts that. I’m very interested to see what is the response from Mexico, what’s the response of Puerto Rico, and what the response from Canada is. Does that allow us to do more games in those countries and then if that works, do we go to Asia?”

The Ticket Lottery List for 2027 opened the moment the city selection show closed Thursday night and runs until midnight on Oct. 31.

The 2027 player draft is being held Oct. 28.

This past season the BBCL added two new teams, the Loco Beach Coconuts and the Indianapolis Clowns. They joined the Bananas, the Party Animals, the Texas Tailgaters and the Firefighters. The season-ending Banana Bowl was won by the Tailgaters last week.

The Savannah Bananas began as a Coastal Plains League summer league team for college baseball players in 2016 and started playing exhibition games under unique “Banana Ball” rules in 2020. The Bananas left the Coastal Plains League to become a full-time barnstorming team in 2023.