​Did a baseball team or a boy band just kick off the sports world’s most glamorous gathering?While the choreography, lip-syncing, backflips and yellow uniforms may have seemed like a baffling combo to the uninitiated, Wednesday night’s ESPY Awards opener looked like business as usual for fans of the Savannah Bananas.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe on-stage spectacle also made it clear why the exhibition baseball team is popular enough to sell out Yankee Stadium and boasts more TikTok followers than any Major League Baseball clubhouse.The Savannah Bananas brought their baseball antics to the 2026 ESPY Awards in New York on Wednesday. Mike Coppola via Getty ImagesThe Savannah Bananas launched in 2016 on the idea of “whatever is normal, we will do the opposite,” Joe Martinelli, the president and CEO of Visit Savannah, said that founder Jesse Cole told him. That means you can expect dingers celebrated with dance breaks, outfield acrobatics and a pitcher who stands 10 feet 9 inches tall while slinging his heaters on stilts.The Bananas aren’t playing by MLB rules when they take the field either.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLike this article? Keep independent journalism alive. Support HuffPost.The Savannah Bananas performed a kick line before a game at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., last May. Luke Johnson via Getty Images“Banana Ball,” as it’s called, maintains a strict two-hour time limit, with teams competing for one point per inning, making each leg of the game a battle to score the most runs. All bets are off in the ninth inning, however, when scoring is unlimited.Waiting out four balls won’t get you a walk. Instead, batters make a full sprint around the diamond while the ball is relayed to every fielder before the defense can make a play.“Banana Ball” has dingers, dance breaks, outfield acrobatics and a pitcher, Dakota Albritton, who stands 10 feet 9 inches tall while slinging his heaters on stilts, as is seen here at Denver’s Coors Field last August. Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images via Getty ImagesProviding some true chaos at the plate, the players can even decide that they’re bored with their at-bat and steal first base on any pitch.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFoul balls are fair game no matter where they go because a catch by someone in the stands counts as an out.Sports: New York Mets’ Misery Is Encapsulated In One ‘Little League’ PlayThough the antics might remind some of the Harlem Globetrotters’ basketball theatrics, Banana Ball has one key difference: While wacky, the competition is real.“We get that [comparison] a lot,” Cole told the New York Post, “but the biggest difference is that we never know the result of the game.”’Disgusting’: MAGA Slams Lauren Boebert For Attending Baseball Game With DemocratBaseball Fans Cheer For Coach’s ‘Robo Ump’ MeltdownVenezuela Beats U.S. 3-2 To Win First World Baseball Classic TitleRead the original