Women’s Pro Baseball League debuts this weekend in Springfield, Illinois

With baseball in the sports spotlight during the final month of summer, a new women’s professional baseball venture is launching this weekend.

The Women’s Pro Baseball League debuts on Saturday with teams representing four cities — major markets of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston where baseball thrives. Each of the markets was also chosen for its association for a central figure in women’s professional baseball and American history.

Yet the league will play all of its regular-season games — 15 for each team — during this inaugural campaign at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois. Saturday’s first game, matching the Los Angeles Queens and New York Heights, will play before a sold-out ballpark of 5,200 fans. The San Francisco Firebells and Boston Hunters will play their opener on Sunday.

Which flavor of sunflower seeds is your go-to?? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/tZKq5qweZR

— Women’s Pro Baseball League (@wpbl_official) July 27, 2026

Each team will have 15 players on their rosters and the games will go seven innings.

Among the recognizable names who will take the field are Mo’ne Davis, who became a national sensation during the 2014 Little League World Series; Kelsie Whitmore, the No. 1 overall pick in November’s WPBL draft who has played in several independent baseball leagues and with the Savannah Bananas; and Japanese star Ayami Sato, considered by many to be the best female baseball player in the world.

Ayami Sato, Nasty Back Foot Slider. 😨

[1st woman to play for a Canadian pro men’s baseball league ] pic.twitter.com/UidmSqlLIW

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 12, 2025

“Women have always been part of this game,” International Women’s Baseball Center CEO Kat Williams told the Associated Press. “We’ve always played, we’ve always umpired, we’ve always coached. And in some of the earliest references in the 17th century, the earliest references to something like a game of baseball, it was women that were playing it.”

All of the WPBL’s 37 games — regular-season and playoffs — will stream on ESPN during this first season. Eleven regular-season games will also stream on the Scripps Sports Network.

Beth Greenwood made history with @UofR as the 1st American woman to ever catch in a NCAA baseball game.

Now, she’s getting ready for the first season of the @wpbl_official after being drafted by Boston.

We talked about her journey and how she’s found her place in baseball ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/Wf36yFMuEU

— Rachel Libert (@Rachel_Libert) July 10, 2026

Managers for the four WPBL teams include former major leaguers Keith Foulke (Boston), Eric Young Sr. (Los Angeles) and Matt Williams (San Francisco). Rachelle “Rocky” Henley, a key figure in developing women’s baseball in the Bay Area, will manage the New York club.

The WPBL was co-founded by Justine Siegal, who is the league’s commissioner. Siegal became the first woman to coach for an MLB team in 2015 when she worked in player development with the Oakland Athletics’ instructional league team.

She is also the founder of Baseball For All, a national non-profit organization dedicated to providing instruction and opportunities for women in baseball.

Springfield’s rich history with women’s professional baseball

WPBL officials said the league is playing its inaugural season in Springfield because it preferred a neutral location in the middle of the country. But the Midwest is an integral part of women’s baseball.

Fans of the sport’s history and pop culture likely recognize the association with women’s baseball and Springfield. The first professional women’s baseball game, between teams named the Brunettes and Blondes, was played there in 1875.

Springfield also had a team in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the history of which became nationally known due to the 1992 film “A League of Their Own.” The Rockford Peaches, the main team in that story, played three hours away as part of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. (The Racine Belles and Kenosha Comets also played approximately 300 miles away in Wisconsin.)