The Firefighters Are 'Fired Up' for 2026 Baseball Season

Nearly two years ago, Firehouse.com released covered the debut of The Firefighters baseball team, under the coaching of now-retired Corpus Christi, TX, firefighter, Valerie Perez.

It was the third team in the Banana Ball League, but this year The Firefighters will begin the 2026 season as one of six teams in the Banana Ball Championship League.

"This is a whole new sport that we created," said Perez. "There's going to be little leagues that their first ball they pick up is yellow." 

After developing their chemistry and getting experience playing Banana Ball, The Firefighters made a Cinderella run all the way to the championship game last season.

Today, they start the season at the same time as the other teams, pursuing another championship appearance.

"I'm looking forward to the competition the most with what is about to happen based on everybody starting on the same level,” said Perez. "Playing last year in the playoffs, it was a very different vibe and there was a palpable difference in the competition level. Everybody was bought in, everybody's willing to do anything and everything to make sure that they came up with that win. One of the takeaways was complete excitement for 2026, because that's the type of Banana Ball that's going to be played the entire season. Everybody's fired up about that.”

It’s a good sign when your new draft picks are immediately buying into what the head coach is trying to establish. New addition and pitcher for The Firefighters, Jared Donalson, said he loves what Perez is doing for the team.

"Right off the bat, I was able to connect with her and just get to know who she is, hear her background and have nothing but high praise for her," Donalson told Firehouse.com.

Even the returners, such as all-star pitcher Bradford Webb, can feel the appreciation from The Firefighters’ coaching staff when he was selected as one of the franchised players that prevented him from going to another team before the draft.

“I think one of the highest honors in my life is meaning that much to a coaching staff and to a team," said Webb. "I've never, truly, been on team that is this tight, that care about each other this much, that picked each other up when things were down. It's almost an unexplainable feeling. We've all been on teams, and we've all had camaraderie before, but and this Firefighter team, it's something different."

Perez has nothing but high praise for the players on her team.

“I see them in front of 40,000 fans. I see them in front of 5,000 fans,” stated Perez. "I see them in the airport. I see them when we're done with practice. I've seen a lot of those guys that we franchised produce on the field, but at the same time producing in other ways that are vital to Banana Ball. They live off the 11 Fans First Principles that we that we preach to our guys. It's just genuinely who they are. I get compliments from everybody in the organization about how great my guys are, how respectful they are, and that my group of guys are special very selfless.”

The Firefighters are fired up for the 2026 season, which begins today at Dick Howser Stadium in Tallahassee, FL.

Looking at the 2026 season

Below are some thoughts from from Perez, Webb, Donalson and the Voice of The Firefighters, Zach Staton, on the 2026 season, the development of the sport and the atmosphere that surrounds the team.

"I'm just excited to continue to grow with another team," said Donalson. "I know it's going to be different, but all those guys are good guys, and I've been around them for a few years now."

"I was very ignorant of the Banana Ball League years ago when I entered," Webb told Firehouse.com. "I didn't know much about it at all, and seeing the team grow, seeing the number of employees grow, seeing how hard all the departments, the marketing, the ticketing, our social media departments, all the work that they put in, it's honestly not hard to believe how things have grown and how fans have been attracted to that because we treat people well. They treat us well, and that just makes things grow. Man, fans are attracted to that kind of way."

"The standard has always been the same for going out there, putting fans first, and putting on the greatest show in sports," said Donalson. "I know that'll continue to be the same way for The Firefighters. I'm just thrilled to continue to be in the organization."

"The Banana Ball Championship League going from a World Tour to a legitimate traveling season schedule with six teams just shows that you don't doubt the people who make decisions with Banana Ball," Staton said. "From The Firefighters perspective, not only playing in Wrigley Field, but to be the home team in Wrigley Field is just something that it boggles my mind. To be able to go host our first football game at Nebraska, where it's legitimately all red everything, that's so awesome to picture in my head."

"The important thing that my guys are really aware of is that our reach is beyond what we really imagine," emphasized Perez. "For instance, the Selection Show, we had people coming fly in from dozens of different cities just to figure out where we're playing next year. They packed the house, and they were having a blast."

"I'll be surrounded by a great group of guys who like to get out there and work hard every single day and be the best version of themselves," said Donalson. "I think that's going to push me to continue to be the best version of myself, continue to fight for a spot, because nothing is guaranteed when we get out there."

"To see the growth of the sport, where you look at the millions of people who are who are signing up to be part of our lottery list and want to be part of the experience of it, quite frankly, is something I've never truly felt a part of," Staton said, reflecting on his time in the Banana Ball League. "As the year went on, it just felt like with every game and with every city we went to, the experience got bigger and better. The fans got louder and louder, no matter where we went, and they were impassioned."

"We're super excited about the new guys," exclaimed Webb. "We have some great guys coming in, some great talent and there's no way that they won't fit into the culture we have created," said Webb. "I think that it's a chip on the shoulder type of season after what we saw last year. What others were capable of right there at the end when we trusted our guys and trusted each other, can be a ball club that beats the best teams in the league. I think that's the expectation coming in. Expectations are high. The boys are ready to roll."

"I remember when I started the new kind of thinking in Anaheim," recalled Staton. "I don't know that anybody will ever actually know me. Then, by the end of the season, you have these kids that are saying your name and calling out for you to go give them autographs. It's like, 'what is my life right now?' I could not have imagined that it would have ever gone like this, but I'm so lucky to be a part of what we're doing in Banana Ball. Every day is a reminder to not take it for granted."