The debut season of the Women’s Pro Baseball League is set to kick off at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois. Scheduled to commence on August 1, the league’s launch coincides with the Women’s Baseball World Cup occurring in Rockford, located approximately three hours north of Springfield, from July 22 to July 26.
For the 2026 season, the league will feature teams from Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Boston. The draft order will follow a snake-style format, with San Francisco making the first pick, followed by Los Angeles, New York, and Boston. The draft will consist of six rounds, with each team selecting five players per round. Notable players anticipated to be chosen include former Little League standout Mo’ne Davis, USA Baseball’s Kelsie Whitmore, and Japanese pitcher Ayami Sato.
Robin Roberts Stadium was chosen as the league’s home venue due to its central location among the founding clubs. Springfield has a historical link to women’s baseball, having hosted one of the earliest paid women’s games back in 1875. With a seating capacity of 5,200, the stadium recently added an LED videoboard to enhance the fan experience.
The WPBL, co-founded by Justine Siegal, the first female coach for an MLB team (Oakland Athletics in 2015), marks a significant milestone as the first professional women’s baseball league since the dissolution of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1954, famously depicted in the movie “A League of Their Own.”