Savannah Bananas debut original song at ESPYs opening performance

The Savannah Bananas opened the 2026 ESPYs with “Show Starts Now,” their first-ever original song, performed by Derek Klena. The team said it was “kicking off the ESPY’s with our first-ever original song,” a slot that put the baseball brand on one of sports television’s biggest stages.

The performance aired Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and streamed on the ESPN App, with the show presented by Capital One and returning to New York City. ESPN’s musical lineup also included Slick Rick, Ghostface Killah and De La Soul, placing the Bananas inside an awards show built around pop-culture crossover as much as sports.

The move fit a franchise that has turned baseball into a live entertainment product. The Savannah Bananas have built their identity around spectacle, blending on-field performance, crowd interaction and viral clips into a model that reaches beyond a normal ballgame. Their 2026 plans already reflected that scale, with ESPN noting a 45-state tour and new teams for the season, a setup more like a traveling concert circuit than a traditional minor-league schedule.

That expansion helps explain why an original song at the ESPYs made sense for the Bananas. The team has spent years borrowing from the rhythms of TikTok, touring shows and stage production, packaging Banana Ball as a form of entertainment that can travel from ballparks to prime-time television. “Show Starts Now,” created with Pasek & Paul, gave the Bananas a new piece of branded music to match a business built as much on attention as wins and losses.

For the ESPYs, the Bananas were not a novelty add-on. They were part of the main attraction, stepping into the opening performance of an ESPN event designed to celebrate the biggest moments in sports while leaning hard into spectacle.