Another Women's Professional Sports Team Debuts In 2026
For the first time in almost seventy years, women’s baseball is getting a league of their own.
The women's professional baseball league, which will debut in summer 2026, will have six teams predominantly based in the Northeast.
This comes off the heels of a surge in popularity in women’s sports. The WNBA reached record-breaking numbers this year in ticket sales and viewers, not to mention the women’s NCAA basketball tournament had more viewers than the men’s tournament. The National Women's Soccer League had a record-breaking two million people in attendance and scored a $240 million domestic television deal last season. The women’s professional hockey league began in January 2024 and is already looking to expand to two more teams.
The boost in women’s sports—and the acknowledgment that people watch women’s sports—led to the creation of a real-life 'A League of Their Own.'
“We believe that the success of other women’s professional leagues such as the WNBA and NWSL demonstrates the incredible interest and support for women’s sport,” said Stein in the release.
The WPBL is co-founded by Justine Siegal and Keith Stein. If Siegal’s name rings a bell, it’s because she was the first woman to coach a professional men’s baseball team (Brockton Rox, 2009; the first woman to throw batting practice to a Major League Baseball team (spring training, Cleveland Indians, 2011); and the first woman to ever coach for an MLB team. In 2015, she coached for Arizona's Oakland Athletics instructional league as a two-week guest instructor. She also worked with Team Israel for the MLB World Baseball Classic Qualifier and as a guest coach for Japan and Mexico. She now runs a non-profit called ‘Baseball for All’ to help girls learn to play, coach, and lead in baseball.
Stein is familiar with baseball, too. He is a Canadian businessman and owner of the Intercounty Baseball League’s Toronto Maple Leafs.
Ayami Sato, a legendary former pitcher for the Japanese women’s baseball team, and Cito Gaston, World Series-winning MLB manager (1992/93), are serving as advisors to the WPBL.
“I am so excited that there will finally be a professional women’s baseball league – it is a dream come true for all the girls and women who play America’s Pastime,” Siegal said in the release.
The WPBL also announced that it plans on securing a national broadcast deal for its inaugural season, which will include a regular season, playoffs, and championship
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