TNT Sports will launch eight consecutive weeks of exclusive Banana Ball coverage starting August 18. The fast growing, fast paced, goofy exhibition league games with choreographed team dances and over-the-top walk-ups by batters and scoring celebrations, will air on truTV and be simulcast on HBO Max for U.S. subscribers.
Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, is set for game one as The Savannah Bananas continue their world tour of popular MLB stadiums throughout the season.
Coverage will include stops at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Petco Park in San Diego, Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, T-Mobile Park in Seattle, and Daikin Park in Houston, along with a weekend series from Grayson Stadium, the Savannah Bananas’ home stadium.
This season will wrap with the first-ever Tour Championship in early October, a multi-day tournament of the league’s four teams vying for the inaugural Banana Ball title, with seeding decided by World Tour game results.
The winner will be decided in the title game October 11.
All Banana Ball games feature the original Savannah Bananas, the original team that launched in 2020, taking on The Party Animals, The Firefighters or The Texas Tailgaters in what this year has grown into a new fan-based, entertainment-first league running on an unusual set to set of baseball rules. A few regs include a two-hour time limit with no extra innings; no walks — after ball four, the batter sprints and the defense must pass the ball to every player on the field before trying to tag him out; a fan catching a foul ball qualifies as as out. The league’s popularity is rising with stadiums often sold out.
TNT has been looking to add sports content since losing the NBA. Its primetime sports programming has live games and event coverage of MLB, the NHL, the NCAA, the Big 12 and the BIG EAST, U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Soccer, Unrivaled, Nascar and Roland-Garros.
Disney is also broadcasting the Savannah Bananas — from April to August this year on Friday and Saturday nights on ESPN or ESPN2, with all ten games also simulcast live on Disney+ and ESPN. In February, Disney and Major League Baseball agreed to part after a 25-year run, declining to renew their contract after this latest season.
