The Savannah Bananas are headed to Tropicana Field, bringing their trick-filled, rule-bending brand of baseball to St. Petersburg for two nights next spring. The Bananas will take on the Loco Beach Coconuts on May 7 and May 8, 2027, with the stadium hosting a stop on the team's expanding Banana Ball world tour. Game times have not yet been announced.
The matchup was confirmed by wtsp.com, which reported that the Bananas will be going up against the Coconuts on May 7 and 8 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. The outlet also noted that selected fans in the team's ticket lottery can purchase up to five tickets once chosen. As Creative Loafing Tampa notes, the stop is part of what it describes as the team's 74-city world tour, though other reporting on the 2027 schedule describes a broader footprint.
According to Baseball America, the 2027 Banana Ball schedule will actually span 79 stadiums across 75 cities, with the publication's own schedule listing listing the St. Petersburg dates plainly: May 7-8, St. Petersburg, Tropicana Field vs. Bananas. The discrepancy between the two city counts has not been resolved by the available reporting, but the Tropicana Field dates themselves are consistent across sources.
A Tour That's Going Global
The 2027 schedule marks new territory for the organization. The tour will include international games in Monterey and Tijuana, Mexico, and Toronto and Winnipeg, Canada. It will be the first international season in Banana Ball history.
The Bananas started out as a modest exhibition squad, but the team has exploded in popularity, per wtsp.com's reporting, growing into a touring phenomenon that now fills major league ballparks. Banana Ball itself is built around speed and spectacle rather than the slower pace of traditional baseball, billed on the official Banana Ball site as a fast-paced, fans-first version of the game unlike anything fans have seen before.
Entering the Ticket Lottery
Fans hoping to land seats for the St. Petersburg games will need to join the team's ticket lottery before it closes October 31, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. ET, according to bananaball.com. Entry alone is no guarantee, however: the site states plainly that joining the list does not guarantee the opportunity to buy tickets, since a random drawing determines who gets the chance to purchase available tickets before the event.
Rules Unlike Any Other Ballgame
Part of the draw is a rulebook that looks nothing like a standard box score. Per the same bananaball.com rules page, no new inning can be started once a game hits the two-hour mark, and any hitter who bunts is ejected from the game on the spot. Batters, meanwhile, are allowed to try to steal first base on any pitch of an at-bat.
Fans in the stands get in on the action too. If a fan catches a foul ball cleanly, it counts as an out. And if the score is still tied when the two-hour clock runs out, the game heads into what the rules call a Showdown Tiebreaker — a one-on-one format that settles things fast.
The spectacle extends well beyond the diamond. Banana Ball games are known for coordinated team dances and musical numbers, featuring the Banana Nanas dance team, while players have been known to perform in kilts and on stilts, with surprise guest players making appearances throughout the season, according to Creative Loafing Tampa's reporting. The St. Petersburg stop will see the Bananas face a relatively new rival: the Loco Beach Coconuts, one of two newest additions to the Banana Ball Championship League alongside the Indianapolis Clowns, joining established squads like the Party Animals, the Firefighters and the Texas Tailgaters, per bananaball.com.
