Every entrepreneur knows how tough it is to innovate in a traditional industry. And few industries cling to tradition more tightly than baseball. Nowhere else do fans protect the game’s ‘integrity’ the way the Supreme Court guards the Constitution — preserving the original no matter how much the world changes around it.

The Cole family, owners of the Savannah Bananas, see it differently. As they recently discussed on Relay’s small business podcast Becoming Self-Made, Jesse Cole, a former college baseball player, believes loving the game means changing it and pushing it forward.

“When you’re playing, you’re in the middle of it, and you’re having fun,” Cole tells Entrepreneur. “But when I watch it, I start to get bored.”

Between mound visits, bunts, walks and endless timeouts, he found himself drifting during a three-hour game. Instead of accepting these flaws as “tradition,” he set out to fix them.

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Ripe for innovation

The Cole family never set out to become the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball. When they first got started, they were just trying to sell tickets for their floundering summer league team.

“Our first game, we tried to have the fastest and most entertaining game,” Cole says. They cut out walks, bunts and mound visits, and introduced a hard two-hour time limit instead of nine innings.

To their surprise, the players loved it — some even said it was the most fun they’d ever had on a baseball field.

From there, the Savannah Banana’s creativity took off, and so did attendance. What started with trimming the fat to speed up the game blossomed into choreographed in-game dance routines, players with gimmicks like stilts or extra-long bats and even spontaneous pillow fights.

At first glance, a Bananas game might look like a quirky MLB exhibition. But behind the scenes, it’s more like an episode of Saturday Night Live.

Each week, the team runs a tightly organized creative cycle. By Monday at midnight, every department — players, marketing, creative, video, broadcast and entertainment — submits its “over-the-top” ideas. The Bananas usually sort through 50 to 100 concepts, each paired with a short video and description.

On Tuesday morning, the team reviews everything and selects the ideas that will make it into that week’s scripts. By day’s end, they hold a table read to map out the biggest moments, aiming to debut 10–15 new elements in front of a live crowd.

Wednesday is for gathering props and getting materials to the players so rehearsals can begin. Thursday and Friday are dedicated to refining each bit leading up to first pitch. Then the cycle resets, and it all starts again.

“While we don’t interfere with the actual competition on the field, we plan for everything around it,” says Emily Cole. That plan includes scripted home-run celebrations, coordinated fan interactions and nonstop antics to fill the breaks between plays.

“We write scripts, hold rehearsals, and prepare music and props so we’re ready when something exciting happens,” Jesse Cole adds. “We don’t know exactly when it’ll happen, but the team is always on high alert.”

And unlike most professional sports — where “goofy” antics might get you benched — the Bananas encourage everyone, from players to the finance team, to be part of the show.

“Jesse always talks about the idea muscle and how you need to exercise it to get stronger,” Emily Cole says. “When you have that buy-in from every department, the ideas are plentiful.”

Related: The Savannah Bananas Just Turned Down $1 Million in Ticket Sales. Are They, Um, Bananas?

Unpeeling traditions

But not everyone embraced the Bananas right away.

“We want to build a game that we believe is fun, because the world is yearning for that entertainment aspect,” Emily Cole says. “But there are traditionalists out there who don’t want to come to our games.”

Instead of responding with frustration, the Coles doubled down on serving the fans who get it — and accepting that their product isn’t for everyone.

“We’re not trying to appease the masses,” Jesse Cole adds. “It’s okay if there are naysayers. If you’re not being criticized, you’re playing it too safe.”

Most leagues immediately pursue a TV deal. The Bananas have partnerships with ESPN, TNT, RoW and The CW, but they insist on keeping every game free on YouTube.

“We’re one of the only leagues in the world that’s allowed to have a non-exclusive deal,” Jesse says. “Our partners understand what we stand for and that our audience is continually growing.”

He adds that they’ve turned down bigger offers to keep games free — and they’d make that decision again every day if it’s what’s best for their fans.

Related: How to Get Customers and Employees Excited About Your Business

Not splitting the difference

While everything around them has changed, the Coles have tried to stay anchored to their core mission: give fans the best product possible. That commitment comes with trade-offs — like homeschooling their kids so they can bring them to ballparks across the country — but it’s also what keeps their family fully immersed in the journey.

“The word balance is tough because it implies you’re either doing one thing or the other,” Emily says. “We try to harmonize our entire lives so we can be all in on this venture as a family.”

Jesse takes an even firmer stance.

“I don’t believe in work–life balance at all,” the Bananas co-owner says. “The most successful people in the world don’t have balanced lives. Look at athletes preparing for the Olympics. Are their lives balanced? Nope.”

To the Coles, true greatness demands full commitment.

“If you do everything halfway, you’re gonna be halfway at everything,” Jesse adds. “People romanticize work–life balance, this picture-perfect pie chart of family time, work time and friends time. But if you’re truly driven — if you want to build something that can change the world — you have to be willing to put in the work.”