What Is the WPBL?

The Women’s Pro Baseball League is a four-team professional baseball league in its first season. It is baseball, not softball. ESPN describes it as the first professional baseball league for women in the U.S. since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League ended in 1954 — more than 70 years. The league’s own April schedule post: “the first time in 70+ years that women will take the field as part of an all-women professional league.”

The short answers people search

• Softball or baseball? Baseball. The official name is Women’s Pro Baseball League. ESPN’s explainer calls it a professional baseball league for women. Some players (example: Mo’ne Davis) have softball backgrounds; the games are baseball.
• Why “70 years”? The AAGPBL — the league in A League of Their Own — dissolved in 1954. ESPN and the official schedule post both use that gap.
• Where are the games? All of them. Every 2026 regular-season and playoff game is at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois. There are no home cities this year. Springfield notes.
• How many teams? Four: Boston Hunters, New York Heights, Los Angeles Queens, San Francisco Firebells (not Firebirds).
• How long is the season? Regular season August 1–September 6, 15 games per team. Semifinals start September 9 (best of three). Championship is best of five, mid-September. Standings · playoffs · full schedule.

World Baseball Network reported regular-season games are seven innings; extras have already been used (Aug. 9 and Aug. 13 both went eight on the stats site). We’re not writing a full rulebook.

Who runs it, who is on the field

ESPN: the league was co-founded by Justine Siegal, the first woman to coach for an MLB team (then-Oakland Athletics, 2015). Official pages quote her as commissioner. ESPN also: more than 600 players at the 2025 tryout; 120 selected in the November draft. Featured names already on this guide include Kelsie Whitmore (San Francisco, No. 1 pick) and Mo’ne Davis (Los Angeles). Boston’s manager as of Aug. 9 is Jemile Weeks.

How to watch or go

U.S. fans: paid ESPN app / ESPN+ for the full slate; 11 regular-season dates also on free Scripps Sports. International: league YouTube. Watch guide · Scripps list · tickets from $22.

This site is an unofficial fan guide — about — not the league.