The WNBA has set an example that baseball is following with the launch of the Women’s Professional Baseball League.
Women’s sports are enjoying a significant boom thanks to the emergence of Caitlin Clark and other stars in the WNBA. It seems other sports are looking to take advantage and inspire future generations who might want to play on a diamond rather than the court.
Continuing a legacy that dates back to the 1940s, the WPBL is poised to launch a new and exciting era for women’s sporting opportunities in baseball. The inaugural season is set to begin in Spring 2026, following tryouts that took place last month in Washington.
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The WPBL will mark the fifth professional women’s baseball league in the United States. The first was the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which gave women athletes national visibility during and after World War II.
Then, the National Girls Baseball League played in Chicago before the International Girls Baseball League emerged in 1952, primarily based in Florida. Decades later, the Ladies League Baseball in 1997 briefly revived professional baseball for women but failed to gain momentum permanently.
As a result, the launch of the new WPBL will build on these efforts to establish a lasting era of women’s professional baseball in the United States. Last month, the WPBL announced its first four teams would be based in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Boston.
Former MLB coach Justine Siegal and Keith Stein co-founded the WPBL in 2024 to address the longevity issues faced by women’s baseball. The duo aims to give college and amateur players the chance to play the sport at a professional level.
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During the 2023–24 academic year, more than 1,300 girls played on high school baseball teams, yet only nine women competed on NCAA baseball rosters in 2024. On top of this, 46 percent of MLB fans are women.
The success of the WNBA ultimately inspired both Siegal and Stein to amplify and improve visibility for baseball as part of the broader wave of women’s sports. Siegal said: “We are so excited to finally announce the WPBL’s first four teams – New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Each of these cities are storied sports cities and we can’t wait to connect with the fans who live there and baseball fans across the country.”
More than 600 players from over 10 different countries participated in the League’s recently concluded summer tryouts at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. The top 100 players from the tryouts advanced to the WPBL’s draft.
Headlining the WPBL’s tryouts were women’s baseball superstars Mo’ne Davis — who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a Little League player — and Kelsie Whitmore. The WPBL’s inaugural season is scheduled to begin in May 2026, with the draft taking place on November 20, 2025.