NBC News - It’s been nearly seven decades since women in the U.S. have had a hardball league of their own.By summer of 2026, however, the organizers of the newly announced Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) hope to have six teams of women in caps and cleats, competing on diamonds that have been used almost exclusively by men for nearly a century and half.
The explosive growth of women’s college and pro basketball, along with the now-decadeslong popularity of women’s soccer, played a role in boosting baseball at this moment in sports history, WPBL co-founder Justine Siegal told NBC News on Friday.
“This is definitely a great time for women’s sports and pro sports as men and others have finally figured out how great women are as athletes,” said Siegal, who was the first woman to coach a Major League Baseball team when she joined the Oakland Athletics organization in 2015 and now runs Baseball for All, a nonprofit that promotes baseball for girls. Siegal added: “So it’s just great time to showcase our baseball players."
The Ruthian task of securing franchise owners, six Northeastern cities, stadiums and sponsors might pale in comparison to the league’s most basic need: players with experience in America’s pastime.
No state offers girls baseball as a high school sport, according to representatives at the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). The NCAA and the NAIA have softball for women but not hardball. Still, there were 1,372 high school girls who played on boys baseball teams across America last academic year, according to NFHS data.
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