Ryan Folmar (Photo courtesy of Oral Roberts University)
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST
WITH JASON ROMANO, FEATURING RYAN FOLMAR
Ryan Folmar has been the head coach of the Oral Roberts baseball team since 2013. In 2023, he was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Coach of the Year after leading his team to a 52-14 record and a berth in the 2023 College World Series.
As a player, Folmar excelled at Oklahoma State from 1994-1997 and helped his team to the 1996 College World Series his junior year. He was selected out of high school in the 46th round of the 1993 MLB Draft by the California Angels, but chose to attend college in Stillwater.
Today on the podcast, we talk to Ryan Folmar about the 2023 College World Series berth, not riding the emotions, finding his identity in Christ, and the importance of gratitude within his program.
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST, FEATURING RYAN JOHANSEN
Ryan Johansen played 13 seasons in the NHL, spanning from 2011 through 2024. He was selected by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2010 and made his NHL debut in 2011. After five seasons with the Blue Jackets, he was traded to the Nashville Predators and helped them to their first-ever Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2017. After seven seasons with Nashville, he was traded to Colorado in 2023 and spent one season with the Avalanche. He officially announced his retirement in March 2026 after a 905-game career.
Today on the podcast, Ryan Johansen joins former NHL player Nate Prosser for a conversation on faith, hockey and marriage. Ryan shares his incredible story of coming to faith in Jesus and why it’s never too late to give your life over to God.
Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
It’s fitting that pitcher Drew Rasmussen will start at some point for the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers. After the season and postseason he’s had, he’s become Tampa’s ace. But for him, the reasons for why this is so meaningful go far deeper than just baseball.
He credits his strong faith in God for enduring the arduous, injury-riddled, somewhat roundabout journey between both organizations.
The Rays drafted him in the first round of the 2017 MLB Draft out of Oregon State, but he failed his physical and never signed. He suffered an elbow injury in 2016 that required Tommy John surgery, but returned in 2017 to pitch in eight games and make four starts.
That was enough to convince the Rays to select him, but a subsequent physical revealed that his elbow wasn’t quite fully healthy. Instead of starting his pro career, he needed another Tommy John surgery, which he underwent in September 2017. He missed the entire 2018 season while rehabbing and didn’t have a chance to pitch again to help his draft stock.
“I would say 2017 was when it really hit me that everything the world promises to you is temporary. It’s fleeting,” Rasmussen said recently in a video with Travel Chapel. “There’s no long-term joy. When you lean on the things of this earth, you’re just going to find empty promises. They might bring you momentary happiness, but it’s not everlasting joy.”
He was crushed when he had to go back to school, but the next two years allowed him to mature in his faith.
Even though he grew up going to church and youth group every week, he wouldn’t have considered himself a “man of faith” or someone “searching after God” when he arrived at Oregon State. One of the campus leaders for Fellowship of Christian Athletes started pouring into Rasmussen regularly during his freshman year, inviting him to his house and other events, but Rasmussen said he doesn’t remember taking him up on an offer even one time.
But during his sophomore year, Rasmussen got more curious about God and started digging into the Bible at the “ground level.” Then the first injury came.
“I do think God does a lot of His best work in your life when things are going poorly,” Rasmussen told Travel Chapel.
That injury and the second elbow surgery, along with the disappointment about not being able to make the jump to the pros, is what led him to dive even deeper into his faith.
Despite the injury and time away from the mound, the Brewers drafted Rasmussen in the sixth round of the 2018 draft. He returned to the mound and spent all of 2019 in the minor leagues. He then made his MLB debut in August 2020 during the COVID-shortened season, appearing in 12 games and posting a 5.87 ERA with 21 strikeouts across 15.1 innings pitched.
He started the 2021 season in the bullpen, but the Brewers traded him to the Rays in May 2021. It was disorienting for both him and his wife, Stevie, whom he married in 2020. The Brewers were all they knew in pro ball, and they loved the people in the organization.
“It’s funny looking back on things. What can seem so hard in a moment, God is actually using for something significantly better,” Rasmussen said.
He’s since found a home with the Rays. He’s been selected to the American League All-Star team the last two seasons, and this year he’s been Tampa Bay’s ace all year long. He led the team with 16 wins and 174 strikeouts in the regular season — both career highs — and posted a 2.67 ERA. In the postseason, he leads the team with 21.0 innings pitched and 23 strikeouts to go with two wins and a 1.29 ERA. He won’t pitch Game 1, but will be plenty rested for Game 2 or 3.
But baseball aside, he’s also felt at home in the clubhouse and has connected deeply with team chaplains and his teammates.
“The guys in the clubhouse were exactly what I needed, and God knew He had to put me in the Tampa Bay organization to be surrounded by guys like Ryan Thompson, Jalen Beeks, the year later Jason Adam,” Rasmussen told Travel Chapel. “These are all great men of faith and people I aspire to be like. Although they’re teammates, they’re friends. They’re further on in their walk than I am, so He’s put me in a place where I’ve had great role models and people that are living out their faith on a daily basis.
“He took something my wife and I thought was so negative and He’s turned it into the biggest blessing and the biggest positive in our lives.”
Rasmussen pitched well in 2022 and was off to a good start in 2023 until an elbow injury required him to undergo an internal brace procedure, which ended his season after just eight starts. Before that, he could tell he was starting to “drift” spiritually. The forced slowdown of recovering from surgery allowed him and Stevie to grow even stronger in their faith.
“I think God truly used that time to just say, ‘Hey, look, I’m always here,'” Rasmussen said. “I’m not perfect. I’m nowhere near it. Thank God, because He’s accepting, and the gift of salvation is something I don’t deserve. As I started to drift, I think He put some guardrails in my life, and I think He’s done it two or three other times.”
Stevie even got baptized while he was rehabbing.
“Seeing her evolve is also one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen,” he said. “Being here in Tampa has been unbelievable. And just the people we’ve been surrounded by here, it truly has been amazing. It’s been a blessing. Compared to the miracles of the Bible, I don’t know if you could call it that, but it’s a miracle for Stevie and I.”
Rasmussen and the Rays are on the road to start the World Series. Game 1 is set for 8 p.m. ET Friday on Fox.
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST, FEATURING JOSH LINDBLOM & SCOTT LINEBRINK
On today’s Sports Spectrum podcast, former MLB pitchers Josh Lindblom and Scott Linebrink discuss the topic of identity and finding our purpose and worth outside of sports.
Coach RAC speaks at a Sandlot Revival night in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 18, 2026. (Photo courtesy of SandlotRevival.org)
The inaugural Banana Bowl championship wrapped up on Saturday, the culminating matchup for the 2026 Banana Ball Championship League. The Savannah Bananas — whose fans-first, entertaining style of play spawned its own league — were in the game, but lost to the Texas Tailgaters, 2-1, in front of 41,000 people at Nationals Park, home of the MLB’s Washington Nationals.
That fact — that the league’s flagship team didn’t win the championship — is the biggest differentiator between this baseball phenomenon and the Harlem Globetrotters, the longtime basketball entertainers so many critics compare the Bananas to. Globetrotters games are scripted for Harlem to win; Bananas games are not scripted — aside from the singing and dancing — and feature actual competition.
And Banana Ball is continuing its rise. The Bananas first began this style of play by playing against the Party Animals in 2023, then the Firefighters joined Banana Ball in 2024, followed by the Tailgaters in 2025. This year, the Loco Beach Coconuts and Indianapolis Clowns joined the league.
The largest crowd in Banana Ball history — 102,000 — took place May 2 at Kyle Field, the football stadium on the campus of Texas A&M. And just a couple weeks later they played in front of 101,000 at Neyland Stadium, home of Tennessee football. Banana Ball games were also played this year in NFL stadiums and the most iconic MLB venues. In all, the Bananas visited 21 cities — including their home in Savannah, Georgia — and all six teams played 64 games apiece in 2026. The league will announce its 2027 cities on Thursday.
21 cities. 64 games. Infinite memories. What. A. Season. 💛
To every one of you that showed up, sang along, danced with us, and made us feel so at home in cities across the country, thank you. You're the reason we get to do what we love and you made this season one we'll never… pic.twitter.com/MflZ2Dt09C
But what’s happening on the field isn’t as eternally significant as what’s taking place off the field. While the massive popularity of the Bananas and their competitors is bringing newfound fame to many of the players, a large number of those guys are using their platforms to glorify God.
As the teams toured through the U.S. in the summer of 2024, a group of Christ-followers began meeting for weekly Bible study. What started with five or six guys sitting in a coffee shop grew to 40 or 50 people meeting in someone’s house. Then God planted the idea of public worship nights outside Grayson Stadium in Savannah, so, led by left fielder RobertAnthony Cruz, they held three nights of worship open to anyone.
That left Cruz — better known as Coach RAC — with a desire to take the worship nights on the road. So this summer, he and a college friend, Mehki Key, launched Sandlot Revival. It’s not affiliated with the Bananas, but is driven by Cruz and some teammates.
“Last year, I feel like God put it on some of our hearts to start hosting public worship nights in addition to our team Bible study that we do behind the scenes,” RAC told Sports Spectrum during the team’s stop in Denver in August. “So we had two worship nights during the summer last year, and then we ended up having one in the fall.
“And this year, God just opened some doors, and a friend of mine, Mehki, he organized these worship nights all over the country in a bunch of different cities. So pretty much every city we go to, we’ll play either Friday, Saturday, Sunday, but the night before we’ll have a worship night partnering with a local church in that city.”
At each stop, Key joins with the church’s band to lead attendees in a time of worship and praise, and then one of the players shares his testimony. Often it’s one of the Bananas players, but guys from other teams share as well.
“I was kind of nervous because it’s the first time I’ve ever shared my testimony,” said Ty Jackson, one of RAC’s longtime teammates. “But [RAC] was like, ‘You know what, just let God speak through you, and it’s your testimony, however the Lord has impacted you.’ And it was such a blessing. It’s the first time I ever did it and it’s hard to talk about. You know, everybody’s testimony is different, and my testimony was very emotional. But at the end of the day, people in the crowd were going through the same things I went through and it brought a smile to my face that they could come talk to me about it. It was truly a blessing.”
Following the testimony, Coach RAC takes the stage to share a message and present the Gospel. While playing baseball at Biola University — a Christian school in La Mirada, California — he was a Christian ministries major with a Biblical studies minor. He had a short stint in rookie ball with the Washington Nationals after college, but is now Banana Ball’s de facto chaplain.
“When I was really little I thought I wanted to be a pastor, when I was 5 years old, but didn’t really think much about it after that,” RAC told Sports Spectrum. “… I don’t think it’s my desire to really necessarily be a pastor of a church. We’ll see what God has planned, but in the meantime though, to be able to articulate the Gospel to the best of my ability every week has been a blessing.”
Following RAC’s sermon, the audience is offered a chance to come up for prayer. Along with some church staff, any players in attendance stand in front of the stage and pray over anyone who asks.
“The prayer time from players is awesome,” said Easton Parrish, who’s in his first year with the Bananas. “I get to see a lot people truly become emotional because of whatever they’re going through, whatever prayer they might receive. It’s been fruitful for me. When we first started doing that, I did not go out and pray over other people because I didn’t feel like I could; I didn’t feel like I was a very good prayer guy. But I’ve probably gotten more out of praying for others than they’ve gotten from me praying over them.”
Also in his first year on the team is JT Sokolove, who at 23 is the youngest on the team. He was asked to share his testimony twice at a Sandlot Revival, and has been inspired by hearing his teammates or opponents share their stories as well. Since the teams most often play or travel on Sundays, he said the worship nights have been like church services for him and the other players.
“Seeing city to city, thousands of people come together to praise the Lord — that’s our church because most of the time we’re playing on Sundays,” Sokolove told Sports Spectrum. “So being there and getting to go to our church service basically, and just feel the presence of God … alongside your brothers, it’s just special.”
Meanwhile, the Bible study that started this movement is still ongoing. Some players meet with just their own teams, some gather with other teams when they’re on the road together, and the groups can get rather large if all the teams are in Savannah together.
The players are having tons of fun and living a dream in many ways, but just like any believer knows, trials and tribulations still come in this life. So this band of Bananas keeps meeting to hold each other accountable and stay grounded on God’s Word.
“During the year, everyone is going through highs and lows at different times,” RAC said. “So to be able to meet consistently every week and center ourselves and remind ourselves God is on the throne and we are not the ones on the throne, that’s needed for all of us.”
