For the past 40 years, I have been a devoted fan of the St. Louis Cardinals Major League Baseball club. I inherited my love of the game from my grandpa and great-grandma.

As a kid, I constantly pestered people to play ball with me and even dreamed of being a pro-baseball player, despite being an overweight girl with very little athletic ability. However, when Rob Manfred and the MLB owners decided to bend the knee to President Trump by removing their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives from their website, I decided to sit the 2025 season out.

This renewed my interest in the proposed women’s league I had heard about last year. While women’s pro leagues are certainly not devoid of controversy, now seems like a great time to leave men’s pro sports behind and support the women’s game.

What is the Women’s Professional Baseball League?

The WPBL is a professional women’s baseball league in the U.S. They plan to start playing games in May 2026.

Justine Siegal and Keith Stein are the co-founders of the league. You can find out more about the other people involved in managing the league on its official website.

Games in the WPBL will follow similar rules established by current women’s baseball authorities. Players will use aluminum bats.

How many teams will there be in the WPBL?

There will be six teams in the first season, with plans to expand to eight teams in the near future. Co-founder Justine Siegal hopes that the league will grow from there and eventually have franchises across the United States.

Will the WPBL have a draft?

The WPBL inaugural draft will take place in October of 2025. There will be approximately 15 players on each team. The league expressed an interest in televising the draft, but has yet to secure a national broadcast deal.

Player salaries will be based on their selection order in the draft. Players will also receive a portion of the revenue generated by league sponsorship.

Salaries are expected to be comparable to those of minor league baseball players. The league will enforce a salary cap of $95,000 for the seven-week season.

Tryouts will take place August 22-25 at the Washington Nationals’ home ballpark. The league will invite 150 of the more than 600 registered players to the draft.

Where will the WPBL teams be?

The league has not announced the teams yet, but will before the draft. The teams will be based in the Northeast part of the United States. Games will take place in college and/or minor league stadiums that can accommodate 2,500-5,000 fans.

How long will the WPBL season be?

The first season will be about seven weeks long, with four weeks of regular season play, one week of all-star competition, and two weeks of playoffs. Teams will play games from Thursday to Sunday, with each team playing two games per week.

There will be a four-day training period before the start of the regular season. A playoff tournament will decide the league’s champion.

How long are games?

Games will be seven innings. If a game is tied at the end of regulation, the teams will play extra innings to determine a winner.

Is the WPBL affiliated with MLB?

The WPBL is not affiliated with MLB. The co-owners did not seek any affiliation with MLB because they wanted to preserve the league’s independence and its women-led management structure.

Will anyone watch women’s baseball?

According to MLB, about 46% of the league’s fans are women, and about 53% of women identify as MLB fans. This doesn’t necessarily mean that female fans of the men’s league will be interested in the WPBL, but it is an encouraging sign.

Additionally, one hopes that at least some of the men who watch baseball will support the women’s game. However, there is some concern that the new Athletes Unlimited Softball League will siphon off potential players and fans.

It may be difficult to attract top athletes to women’s baseball when the majority of high school, college, and other bat-and-ball leagues for women focus on softball. In terms of fans, the Women’s Baseball World Cup finals last summer drew 2,121 fans, while the final of the Women’s College World Series in softball drew 12,324 fans.

Siegal is banking on the idea that there are enough elite softball players who would prefer to play baseball to sustain the league. She hopes that the existence of the WPBL will spur growth in women’s baseball at the youth and college level.

Will there be television or streaming coverage of the WPBL?

The WPBL is partnering with Fremantle, the production company responsible for the Got Talent franchise, to broadcast games. Fremantle will produce content ranging from game broadcasts and pre- and post-game shows to original content.

It will also be responsible for recruiting sponsors, marketing the league, and helping the league sign a national broadcast deal. What type of deal the league secures will determine whether games will be on television or streaming platforms.

Ideally, I’d love to be able to see a game in person and watch games on the streaming service of my choice. Hopefully, the first season will be a hit and there will eventually be teams in every part of the country.

With the short season and uncertain future, I don’t know that the WPBL can completely fill the gap left in my sports schedule by quitting MLB. However, I’m excited for the opportunity to become a fan in 2026.