With the 2026 MLB season officially in the books — and with the impending lockout threatening to delay the 2027 season — the stage is already being set for another smash season of Banana Ball.
On Oct. 28, Banana Ball held its player draft for the 2027 season when 39 players were picked by the six teams in a selection ceremony that streamed on YouTube live from Historic Grayson Stadium in Savannah. Over 2,000 players applied to join the league for the upcoming season, many of whom were invited to tryouts
across the country. Sixty were invited to the third-ever draft and sat with their families to see if their names were selected. Two former members of the Colorado Rockies happened to be part of the chosen few.
Tonight, the Banana Ball All-Stars vs. Future Stars Game will take place in Savannah. First pitch is slated for 4:30 p.m. MDT and will be streamed live on the Banana Ball YouTube channel. That will be the last Banana Ball action until their seven-month, 75-city World Tourthat will hit Mexico, the U.S. and Canada — including two games at Coors Field — takes off in February.
Here are a few interesting things to know about Banana Ball in 2027.
Two Rockies picked in third-ever draft
The biggest surprise pick of the 2026 draft came with the fifth pick in the fifth round when the Savannah Bananas selected 12-year MLB veteran and former Rockie Charlie Culberson. Culberson made his Banana debut in 2023 when he made a guest appearance at Truist Park in Atlanta, doing a backflip before his at-bat (he popped out).
Culberson came to Colorado in 2012 in a trade with the San Francisco Giants for Marco Scutaro. He played with the Rockies from 2012-14, going back and forth from the then-Triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox and MLB, along with stints on the IL for a lumbar disc injury. Culberson elected for free agency after the 2015 season and went on to play for the Dodgers, Braves and Rangers. In his Rockies career, the infielder played 142 games and hit .227/.273/.327 with a .600 OPS.
Three picks earlier, the Firefighters drafted RHP Brendan Hardy, who spent two years playing for the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats and Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes after the Rockies picked him up in the Rule 5 draft from the New York Mets in 2023.
In 2024, Hardy made 34 relief appearances, posting a 4.08 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 39.2 innings. He went on a tear in the middle of the season, only giving up one run over an 18.2-inning stretch.
In 2025, Hardy only made two appearances before an injury ended his season and tenure in the farm system. He spent 2026 with the independent Milwaukee Milkmen.
The draft was definitely a great show. Here’s the quick recap.
Coors Field is going Bananas again
Denver will play host to Banana Ball on May 29 and 30 when the Loco Beach Coconuts and Party Animals will face off at Coors Field. Fans interested in attending can enter the Banana Ball lottery by midnight on Oct. 31 for a chance to buy tickets.
In August, the Savannah Bananas played the Indianapolis Clowns in front of two sold-out crowds that included the debut of Kristen Bell having the time of her life doing a “Frozen”-“Dirty Dancing” mashup with Broadway star and Banana Derek Klena.
Banana Ball first came to Denver in 2025when the Bananas took on the Firefighters. After that season, Purple Row’s own Samantha Bradfield wrote about how the Rockies would have fared if they played by Banana rules.
WPBL stars are back as Bananas
For Women’s Professional Baseball League fans, good news: The same core of WPBLers will be back in Banana Ball action in 2027, along with a new addition.
Val Perez, a shortstop for the New York Heights, is back as the manager and player for the Firefighters. A former real-life firefighter, Perez was the only WPBLer at Wednesday’s draft as she announced the selections for her squad.
On Tuesday, four stars from the inaugural WPBL season re-signed with their respective teams. Ashton Lansdell, a third baseman for the WPBL Champion Los Angeles Queens, will be back with the Party Animals. Fellow Queen Mo’ne Davis will rejoin the Indianapolis Queens and can pitch or play center field. Another two-way player, Kelsie Whitmore (RHP/CF) of the San Francisco Firebelles, will be back with the Savannah Bananas, while New York Queens catcher Denae Benetis will return to the Loco Beach Coconuts.
San Francisco’s Jill Albayati will make her Banana Ball debut in 2027 as a RHP/DH for the 2026 Banana Ball Champion Texas Tailgaters.
First-ever Entertainment round
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a professional opera singer play baseball? How about a hitter with a bat on fire at the plate?
Well, you don’t have to wonder anymore.
Those were two of the selections in the first-ever Entertainment round of the Banana Ball draft. After the five-round draft (plus three additional supplemental picks) ended, the show really started. While all of the entertainment selections have earned the title, including many who can sing and dance like they were made for Broadway, two players stole the show.
John Reisen, an award-winning American tenor who also happens to be a good pitcher, sang on his way to the podium after being nabbed by the Firefighters.
The Loco Beach Coconuts made a nice addition to their surfer vibe with Hawaiian fire dancer Kaleikaumaka Grebin. The talented outfielder not only impressed Banana Ball scouts with his baseball skills, but also with his ability to wield and twirl a flaming bat during his tryout.
The draft included many Banana Ball-like festivities, including a selection that mimicked the rose ceremony from “The Bachelor/Bachelorette,” featured a guest appearance by the sorting hat from “Harry Potter” and saw Tailgaters manager Joe Mukulik jump off the podium to smash a table in true Buffalo Bills tailgater fashion.
After the draft ended, Fans First Entertainment director of recruiting and player personnel, Berry Aldridge, explained the “first, best and only” criteria that make a great Banana Ball player.
“Can you be the first to do something, the best to do something, or the only person to do something?” Aldridge asked.
With an opera singer and fire dancer, and all the amazing trick plays yet to come, 2027 figures to be another stilt-sized step forward full of firsts, bests and onlys for Banana Ball.
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