On Aug. 1, something happened in Springfield, Illinois that hasn’t happened in 28 years. Inside Robin Roberts Stadium, the Women’s Professional Baseball League began their inaugural season. This marked their first game since 1998, when the Ladies Professional Baseball League folded in its second season. But long before that, there was the now-famous All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1943 to 1954, immortalized in the 1992 film “A League of Their Own.”
A league of four teams, all playing in the same stadium, make up the third attempt at a women’s baseball league in the United States: The San Francisco Firebells, Los Angeles Queens, New York Heights and Boston Hunters. According to the WPBL press release on July 8, 2026, each team is “inspired by a trailblazing, female pioneer.”
The league had an action-packed opening weekend, drawing fans to the sold-out Springfield stadium from all over the country, according to the New York Times. An appearance by 99-year-old Maybelle Blair, a former player from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, was a special surprise for the more than 4,000 fans. According to the same NYT article, league merchandise surpassed $1 million in sales.
“The players that were not playing that day were out with the fans signing jerseys,” Sadie Fary, a second-year health science major, said. “I couldn’t get a jersey, they sold out. We waited over an hour for merch.”
Fary said that her family drove over 35 hours to Springfield from Los Angeles to witness the opening weekend.
“There were a lot of people. Lots of little kids, a lot dressed up in Peaches [All-American Girls Professional Baseball League team] dresses. But there were a lot of families too,” Fary said about her experience at opening weekend.
The league plays Wednesdays through Sundays. With playoff games beginning on Sept. 9, all four teams will compete for the championship. Specific seeding will be determined once the regular season standings are final. The first series (semifinals) will be a best of three series, in which the No. 1 seed will play the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 and No. 3 will compete against each other. The championship series will be a best of five series, and begins on Sept. 16, with a potential game five on Sept. 22.
As the WPBL looks ahead to the remainder of their season, there have already been several standout players. The first home run belongs to Denae Benites, a catcher for the New York Heights. The four-time USA Baseball Women’s National Team player has had 26 hits, nine home runs, 30 RBIs (runs batted in), and is also on Banana Ball’s Loco Beach Coconuts team.
As for the first strikeout, it belongs to Boston Hunters pitcher Gisella “Gigi” Schiano, the first woman committed to Rosemont College’s baseball roster. She is also a gold medalist at the PONY Women’s World Series representing Team USA and has a 3.60 ERA (earned run average).
The first grand slam belongs to San Francisco Firebells’ Kelsie Whitmore during a 17-3 win against Los Angeles. Whitmore, a San Diegan two-way player (both pitches and hits), is also a Banana Ball player pitching for the Savannah Bananas. She was named the 2022 USA Baseball Sportswoman of the Year and is an iconic athlete with a strong focus on being a role model for young girls in baseball. Whitmore’s teammate, first baseman Andréanne Leblanc, claimed the league’s first walk-off — a grand slam. With two outs, a full count and trailing by two in the bottom of the seventh (the WPBL plays seven innings, not nine), Leblanc launched her first-career home run and walked it off against Los Angeles.
With women’s sports in general expanding rapidly, several questions specific to the WPBL arise: Will there soon be more expansion teams? Will the teams play in their designated cities, instead of a single neutral site? Will crowds grow larger, and viewer numbers increase? Most importantly, will the league achieve a significant media rights deal? Currently, games are only available through a subscription to ESPN+ and a limited number of games are available on Scripps Sports Network. Valuable media rights deals seem to be a crucial factor of success for new leagues — especially one that only plays in one venue, online fan access is important. Only time will tell, but one thing is for certain: the Women’s Professional Baseball League has no shortage of talent, community, or thrilling late-inning drama that proves the hardball game is here to stay.
Cade Michaelson