BUFFALO, N.Y. — Banana ball is so much more than your average baseball game.
"Exhilarating, electric, and fun," Banana ball founder Jesse Cole said.
"I would say it's more entertaining," Savannah Bananas head coach Tyler Gillum said. "It's faster and it's more exciting for every fan that comes to the game."
"It's a fast game," Firefighters' catcher and first baseman Alex Bentley said. "It's fan-friendly. It's fans first."
"You're gonna see a lot more risk taking," Firefighters' shortstop Isaac Parra said.
"It's non-stop energy, electricity, and talent," Bananas Director of Entertainment Zack Frongillo said.
Somehow, it still didn't turn into an online sensation overnight.
"When we started, we only sold a handful of tickets," Cole said. "My wife and I had to sell our house, empty our savings account. We were sleeping on an air bed just 8 years ago and now to see waitlists for tickets over 2.7 million and people coming from all over the country to see us, it's unbelievable."
For the players, finding motivation is easy.
"Being able to impact so many," Bananas pitcher Dakota "Stilts" Albritton said, "That's what keeps me here. I'm not a hard guy to make happy and myself making other people happy makes me the happiest person in the world."
"I love the game," Parra said. "I've been a part of the game since I was three years old so that's something that's always going to be in me no matter what age I get. I'll be 70 years old probably still playing baseball."
So what exactly can be expected as a fan at Sahlen Field this weekend?
"This is the best four or five hours of your life," Bananas umpire Vincent Chapman said. "You don't worry about what you got going on at work, what you got going on at home. You don't have to worry about the dishes you have or the bills you gotta pay here. It's just the best experience you'll ever have at any event. It's like going to your favorite concerts and forgetting all your worries."
If you get lucky, you may even catch another look at the Savannah Bananas channeling their inner Bills Mafia with another table breaking celebration.
The Bananas and Firefighters will play two more games this weekend in Buffalo. Next up, Saturday at 7 p.m. and the final game played at Sahlen Field will take place on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
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