The Women’s Professional Baseball League is set to kick off its first season at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois. The league is scheduled to commence games on August 1st. Coinciding with this, the Women’s Baseball World Cup is taking place in Rockford, approximately three hours north of Springfield, from July 22nd to 26th.
The league’s 2026 season will feature four teams: Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Boston. The draft will follow a snake-style format, with San Francisco having the first pick, followed by Los Angeles, New York, and Boston. Each team will make selections in six rounds, with five players chosen per round. Notable players expected to be drafted include former Little League standout Mo’ne Davis, USA Baseball’s Kelsie Whitmore, and Japanese pitcher Ayami Sato.
Robin Roberts Stadium, chosen as the league’s venue, is strategically located among the four founding clubs. Springfield holds historical significance in women’s baseball, having hosted one of the earliest paid women’s games in 1875. The stadium boasts a seating capacity of 5,200 and has recently installed an LED videoboard.
The Women’s Professional Baseball League was co-founded by Justine Siegal, known for being the first woman to coach for an MLB team, the Oakland Athletics, in 2015. This league marks the first professional platform for women since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, famously depicted in the movie “A League of Their Own,” disbanded in 1954.
