The Savannah Bananas, baseball’s high-energy touring road show, will return to Busch Stadium for two games in 2026.
The Banana Ball World Tour will visit St. Louis for games on August 21 and 22, 2026, the team announced Thursday night. The Bananas will play both games against the Loco Beach Coconuts, one of two new teams (together with the Indianapolis Clowns) joining the Banana Ball Championship League, the Bananas’ expanding roster of barnstorming baseball showmen, next season.
Banana Ball, the league’s wacky take on baseball, has various odd regulations, including a two-hour time restriction. No walks. Points instead of runs. A bunt causes an automatic out. A lucky star can hit at any moment as a “Golden Batter,” and an even luckiest fan may get the opportunity to argue an umpire’s ruling on the field.
From dancing outfielders to pitchers on stilts (not to mention the Dad Bod Cheerleading Squad), the game has an ever-changing set of stunts and gags to keep spectators involved, entertained, and wanting more.
And it works. The demand for tickets is so strong that the Bananas must hold lotteries to equitably distribute tickets, which are priced by the team to make the game more affordable to all fans. This year’s visit in St. Louis had the highest lottery entries of any location on the 2025 Banana Ball World Tour, with over 160,000 people fighting for tickets in only the first three days of the lottery sign-up.
Fans in St. Louis who want to acquire tickets should sign up for the Bananas lottery at bananaball.com/tickets before the entry window ends on Oct. 31. A random lottery will be held around two months before the games to provide fans the opportunity to purchase up to five available tickets, which start at $40. Children under the age of three get in for free.
The St. Louis Cardinals offer a special all-inclusive ticket package that includes food and beverages. Fans may purchase it at cardinals.com/bananas.
The lottery procedure may appear demanding, but the organization believes it is the greatest approach to keep supporters engaged.
“We want to make sure that real tickets end up in the hands of real fans,” he told the Post-Dispatch in an email earlier this year. “We’re confident that bots and scalpers aren’t able to get their hands on tickets through this verification process.”
The squad sold out every game on the 2025 tour, which saw over 2 million spectators attend games in 40 locations at several major league venues. In 2026, the Bananas want to reach more than 3 million live fans with 75 stadiums throughout 45 states, including 10 football stadiums and 14 MLB stadiums.
Noah Niznik, an Imperial native, is expected to return for the 2026 trip. The pitcher played collegiate ball at Southeast Missouri before being invited to test out for the Bananas. Niznik made the squad and became a standout, winning the Bananas’ Rookie of the Year in 2024.
Banana Ball originated as the Savannah Bananas summer college league squad, which was discontinued in favor of full-time Banana Ball in 2022. The squad has subsequently expanded to form its own league, the Banana Ball Championship League, which now includes six teams: the Bananas, Coconuts, Clowns, and Texas Tailgaters, as well as the Firefighters and Party Animals, all of which are headquartered in Savannah, Georgia.