Starting in August 2026, women’s baseball is coming back, and it’s poised to be larger than ever before. The Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL) is shaping up to be very exciting, so here is everything you need to know before it kicks off.
- The league consists of four teams: Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and the city of champions: Boston, Massachusetts.
- For the inaugural season, all games will be played at Robin Roberts Stadium, a neutral site in Springfield, Illinois.
- The season will kick off in August and consist of four weeks of games, followed by an all-star game and a two-week playoff period.
- Each week will consist of two games per team, played from Thursdays through Sundays. The games are intended to be broadcast on national television rather than a sports network.
- The WPBL has no association with the MLB, meaning that they currently have minimal funding. The salary cap for each team will be set at $95,000 for a 15 player roster, giving most players a salary comparable to those of low minor league prospects.
- In August 2025, the league hosted tryouts for prospective players at the MLB’s Washington Nationals facilities.
- On November 20th, 2025, the four teams participated in a six-round draft to build their rosters. Each team got five picks per round, with each round consisting of 20 picks. That’s 120 players total.
- The draft was headlined by little league talent Mo’ne Davis and the Savannah Bananas pitcher Kelsie Whitmore. It was further filled with college softball and semi-professional women’s baseball talents.
- A wide range of prospects were drafted, with ages ranging from 17 to 40 years old.
- The WPBL was founded by Justine Siegal and Keith Stein, who are both very experienced in professional baseball. In 2009, Siegal was the first woman to ever coach for a professional men’s baseball team. She also founded Baseball For All, an organization that focuses on empowering girls and providing them better access to baseball programs. Stein, a former minor league and college baseball player, is currently the CEO of the Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball team in the Canadian International Baseball League.
- Following the 2026 season, the WPBL will look to expand to six or eight teams in future years.
Professional Women’s baseball leagues have been cycling through the US since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League took root during World War II. The WPBL is looking to modernize and destigmatize women’s baseball, making it an open and fun sport for people of all identities. The league’s performance in 2026 will be a great indicator for the progress of women’s professional baseball. If all goes well, the WPBL could be a future staple of women’s and American professional sports.
