The Banana’s Tally Takeover

The Savannah Bananas Start Their Season in Tallahassee

Photo taken by Claire Lawler / Maclay Andalusian

From Feb. 26-28, Florida State University was taken over by a professional sports league. However, this was not just any league, it was the Banana Ball Championship League (BBCL). The BBCL stems from the Savannah Bananas and due to the mass popularity of the Banana’s, five other teams were created to start a full league. This year in 2026, the BBCL is making a national tour with the first stop being Tallahassee, where every team competed in at least one game.

On Thursday, Feb. 26, the 2026 BBCL season began with the first game between the Loco Beach Coconuts and the Firefighters. The game was held in Florida State’s Dick Howser Stadium and was the first of two games played there. This game was extremely exciting for the Coconuts, as this was their first game in franchise history. As for the Firefighters, this game was extremely sentimental for one of their players, Logan Lacey. Lacey made his homecoming as he was a part of the Florida State baseball team from 2020-22. Lacey also started the season off strong for the Firefighters by making the first trick play of the season with a behind the back catch. Though Lacey made some amazing plays throughout the game, he and the Firefighters came up just short losing 6-4 with an amazing ninth inning comeback from the Coconuts.

On Friday, Feb. 27, the excitement for Banana Ball had still taken over the entire Tallahassee campus for Florida State. The second game was held at Dick Howser stadium and it was the Indianapolis Clowns taking on the Party Animals. The Party Animals came into this game as crowd favorites, as the team has been around for the second longest time, only short to the bananas. Though the Clowns were going to be an extremely tough matchup for the Party Animals. The Clowns are tough to beat because they have the first former MLB player to be a part of Banana Ball on their team:Jackie Bradley Jr. Bradley, is a former 11 year MLB all-star who is also a Gold Glove award winner and World Series champion with the Boston Red Sox during his time in the major leagues. Bradley and his team were also able to put on an opening day win for Clowns’ fans as they beat the Party Animals 4-2 to move to 1-0 on the season.

Lastly, Tallahassee was ready for the main event, an event that would hold over 60,000 fans. The Savannah Bananas were taking on the Texas Tailgaters inside the second largest brick building in the entire world, Bobby Bowden Field in Doak Campbell Stadium. This game was extremely anticipated and very hard to get tickets for, making it the most exciting game of the three day event that had taken place. The game was close the entire time and there was not a clear winner until the last at-bat. Jackson Olson, a fan favorite for the Banana’s who has over a million followers on Instagram, stepped up to the plate and he then drove a ball deep into the outfield which led to the Banana’s winning 5-3 to end off the fun weekend at Florida State.

Though the Banana’s time is up in Tallahassee, the teams have a long road of games ahead as their regular season takes them through June, so be sure to catch some of the games on either the Banana’s youtube channel or Disney+.