MILE HIGH MAYHEM! Bananas, Firefighters split Denver. Tailgaters sweep LSU.
Aug 9, 2025: The Firefighters 3(15)TP7 ~ Savannah Bananas 5(16)TP12, Texas Tailgaters 3(5)TP3 ~ Party Animals 2(2)TP9 SD1; Aug 10: The Firefighters 4(7)TP4 ~ Savannah Bananas 3(4)TP12 SD1
Editor’s note from the mind of the Michi: This past weekend’s Coors Field series had me thinking about how I do these articles at Michi-chan Sports. If I follow the same style that I have been recently using to break down Banana Ball games for Saturday’s game, it would probably be about the size of the phone directory for Hokkaido, Japan and would probably take days to properly put together. Coming back from a 15 year “retirement” and exploring new sports has been a challenge for me. With that, I am still trying to discover my new “format”. Please be patient and if you have any suggestions, please feel free to let me know by writing to staff@michichan.com. Let’s make something good here. Thank you for your understanding.
This past weekend, Banana Ball went to the mile-high city of Denver, Colorado. People warned about how the change in altitude can impact you. When I lived in Arizona, I used to travel frequently between Phoenix (around 1,100 feet above sea level) and Denver (around 5,280 feet) and never experienced any issues. However, the “thinner air up there” does have some impacts on how baseball and Banana Ball would be played. It is even to the point that MLB has a special process where they refrigerate baseballs in a humidor in order to reduce the “bounce” of the balls, perhaps in an effort to level the playing field with other stadiums at lower elevations.
Saturday at Coors Field
Saturday night’s game at Coors Field clearly showed that Jesse did not refrigerate the balls. I was expecting there to be a higher scoring game, and of course, Banana Ball did not disappoint. If anything was to give a clue of how this game would go, look no further than the very first at bat. The Bananas sent out starter Noah Niznik who would eventually put in 2.2 innings of work in that game. The third pitch to Liam Spence would set the tone with a solo home run just over the wall at center field.
The Bananas would give chase in the first inning through a pair of base hit singles by D.R. Meadows and Dan Oberst, followed by a ball four sprint from Firefighters starter Austin Temple to Kyle Jackson and an RBI single by Reece Alexiades to win the first inning.
This game of “keep away” would continue for the next three innings. In the second inning, the Firefighters would put up two runs with base hits by Joe Lytle and Ron Franklin Jr. would ground towards right, Jackson Olson missed the behind-the-back trick play scoring Lytle and Franklin. The Bananas answered with a pair of base hits by Ryan Cox and Bill LeRoy, the latter being a triple and a pair of ball four sprints off of Ga’von Wray to Corelle Prime and Jackson Olson allowing the Bananas to win the second inning.
In the third, a ball four sprint and a hit by pitch to Dalton Cornett and Logan Lacey respectively by Niznik would lead to a base hit single off of Dakota “Stilts” Albritton to made give The Firefighters two runs, but like as we have seen so far, the Bananas had the answer…
No, it was not Ty Jackson suspiciously, in Matt Wolf’s barrel, but a two-base ball four sprint off of Austin Temple to DR Meadows and a base hit single by Dan Oberst leading up to a Reece Alexiades three-run jack out to near-dead center, giving the ‘Nanners yet another inning. Savannah now up 3~0 in points.
In the top of the fourth, Noah Bridges hits one into the pocket in deep right and about to get to third. Mason Maxwell then hit one out to right, Alexiades tried for the diving catch but could not get it to bring in Bridges giving Maxwell his own triple. Liam Spence would then ground to Ryan Cox who throws it home to deny Maxwell of his own destiny. The Bananas would answer with a pair of runs by base hits by Robert Anthony Cruz, Bill LeRoy and Jackson Olson. Bananas are now up 4~0 in points. In the fifth inning, the Firefighters would get an ounce of redemption with a single run through a ball four sprint to Logan Lacey and an RBI single by Stephen Cullen to bring him in. The Bananas could not answer that. It was now 4~1 , Bananas.
The sixth inning is when everything went crazy, if I was to detail everything, I think it would crash Substack. The Firefighters would use their entire 10-man line-up to rack up six runs, this included a two-run blast by Stephen Cullen, the third home run in the game so far. The Bananas’ sixth included the only foul out to a fan, but like the Firefighters, used the entire 10-man line-up. The ‘Nanners fell short netting only five runs. All of that effort on the part of both teams only to give The Firefighters a single feather in their cap in their efforts. Now 4~2, Bananas.
The seventh inning would start with Noah Bridges on 2-1 tapping one to pitcher Jared Donalson who throws it between the legs to Eric Jones at first for the double trick play and the first out. The Firefighters would get two runs off of a pair of ball four sprints off Donalson to South Trimble and then to Liam Spence which brought in Trimble. Dalton Cornett would hit to the wall at deep center bringing in in Spence but then would get caught up in a pickle between second and third. The Bananas were unable to answer those two runs and now we are at 4~3, Bananas.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Bananas would expand their point lead to 5~3 with a walk-off solo home run by Dan Oberst. The Firefighters were unsuccessful in the ninth and the Bananas get the win. With 31 total runs, this game set the Banana Ball record for the most runs scored in a single game.
Watching this game, I could see how the thin air does affect the flight of the balls, I noticed a lot of moonshot foul balls, balls too high that the average fan may not be able to get a handle on it, hence why the game was limited to only one fan out. Overall, it was an incredible game to a Banana Ball record crowd for an MLB-specific stadium (50,000). Jesse Cole outdid himself again.
Sunday afternoon at Coors Field
Perhaps it was a change in the atmospheric conditions, players who were still recovering from the previous day’s longball fest or someone decided to finally refrigerate the banana balls, but Sunday’s show felt just like a typical show played closer to sea level.
The Firefighters would claim the second, fourth and seventh innings while the Bananas would claim the first and and fifth innings. No homers, no triples, but there were three fan outs.
Controversy in the bottom of the sixth with Matt Wolf pitching for The Firefighters. As Wolf was starting to wind up to Jackson Olson with a 1-0 count, Wolf stops, and casually throws to second baseman Caden Green who tags Danny Hosley. Hosley was confused, the broadcast booth was, and probably banana lovers everywhere were also (I know I sure was). It turns out that it was a balk. Honestly, I think this is the first time I have ever seen a balk call in Banana Ball. With the various “stylized” windups and other approaches that Banana Ball pitchers do, it’s hard to determine what is truly a pure “balk”. I am very relieved though that the umps in this sport are not fast to hairline trigger a balk call. This is one of the problems that I have with MLB. Anyway, it was determined a balk and Hosley was awarded second base.
In the top of the seventh, the Bananas call up pitcher Kelsie Whitmore. Kelsie is currently on the U.S. Women’s National Baseball Team and was previously at the Staten Island Ferryhawks and most recently at the Oakland Ballers in the Pioneer League. She would give up a base hit to Liam Spence, a 2 RBI ball four sprint to Dalton Cornett, a double to Logan Lacey and a ground out to Dakota McFadden to end the inning. The Firefighters would go on to win that inning.
The Bananas would tie the game in the ninth inning when Kyle Jackson attempts to steal home. The ball is bobbled and dropped in the rundown and Jackson was successful in stealing home. The Bananas score and the game is tied. The Bananas were not able to rack up any additional runs/points, so we are going to showdowns.
In the first showdown, Joe Lytle would come up for The Firefighters and would hit one clear out to deep left. Remember, there’s only the pitcher (Austin Krezminski) and one fielder (Reece Alexiades). Lytle manages to round the bases to score a point. The hit was not without controversy. The ball did ground in the infield along the third base line. The third base umpire called it fair. The replay shows dirt on the fair side of the line hitting. It looked perfectly fair to me. The Bananas did not challenge the call and the point stood.
For the Bananas, they would send up Robert Anthony Cruz to go against Ben Dum III on the bump and Noah Bridges in the field. RAC keeps the ball in the infield and was easily stopped by Dum, who ran the ball towards home and gave RAC the big “NOPE!” just before the plate. With that, The Firefighters break a 14-game Bananas winning streak.
This game also broke the season record for overall trick plays with a total of 1,360 trick plays among all four Banana Ball teams, plus The Visitors, Banana Ball’s development team that had played both the Bananas and the Party Animals during this season.
Saturday night in Baton Rouge - The Party Animals vs. The Texas Tailgaters
After Friday’s Texas Tailgaters victory, the Party Animals hosted a second game on the Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rouge, LA.
The Tailgaters would win the fifth and seventh innings and the Party Animals would win the second and fourth innings and the game went to showdown.
The Tailgaters’ Zach Watson would complete the inside the park home run to win a point. For the Animals, Reece Hampton would pop up to Jorden Hussein who made a trick play catch. We believe this is the first time a trick play was successfully executed in a showdown. The Tailgaters would sweep LSU.
Game Stats
Saturday: Bananas vs. Firefighters
Bananas win: The Firefighters 3(15) ~ Savannah Bananas 5(16).
The Firefighters trick plays: 7 ~ Spence (2), Green, McFadden, N. Bridges, Cullen, Dum.
Bananas trick plays: 12 ~ Cox (3), Olson (2), Meadows (2), Cruz, K. Jackson, Alexiades, Donalson, Jones Jr.
Home Runs: (FF) Spence, Cullen, (SB) Oberst, Alexiades
Triples: (FF) Lacey, Lytle, N. Bridges, Maxwell, (SB) K. Jackson, LeRoy.
Strikeouts: (FF) Temple, Wray, Shill, Hummel, (SB) Niznik, Hosley.
Fan Outs: B6 (1B)
Fastest MPI: (SB) Phillips 1:52
Sunday: Bananas vs. Firefighters
The Firefighters win: The Firefighters 4(7) ~ Savannah Bananas 3(4) SD1.
The Firefighters trick plays: 4 ~ Spence, Green, Parra, Maxwell.
Bananas trick plays: 12 ~ K Jackson (4), Alexiades (2), Olson, Prime, Meadows, Cruz, Cox, Hosley.
Home Runs: (none)
Triples: (none).
Strikeouts: (FF) Webb, Rigot, (SB) Luigs (3), Perry (2).
Fan Outs: T4 (HP), B7 (HP), B9 (3B)
Fastest MPI: (SB) Luigs 1:49
Saturday: Party Animals vs. Tailgaters
Texas Tailgaters win: Texas Tailgaters 3(5) ~ Party Animals 2(2) SD1.
Tailgaters trick plays: 3 ~ Hussein (2), Moniot.
Party Animals trick plays: 9 ~ Bloomer (2), Skole (2), Baber (2), Swan, Jacobo, Holden.
Home Runs: (none)
Triples: (PA) Thomas.
Strikeouts: (TT) Reid (4), Tiepanier (3), Sperone (2), Kitchen, (PA) Rodriguez (2), Helton, Fluke.
Fan Outs: (none)
Fastest MPI: (TT) Reid 2:15
When trick play counts between what is shown in the post game graphic and the official scoresheets, we will use the scoresheet values.
Please pardon if we get a name spelled wrong. Sometimes, I am rushed to write these. Keeping up with four rosters can be tricky sometimes. Thank you for your understanding.
All screenshots: Fans First Entertainment. YT @thepartyanimals.bananaball and YT @thesavannahbananas (fair use).
Additional credit: official scoresheets from Josh Talevski (X: @JoshTalevski)
Championship Standings
