[ID: A digital zine, all pictures mimic a classic magazine with a slightly faded look and images accompany the text. The backgrounds of the images are all cut out, meaning that only the people are shown.
First image: Front cover of the zine, titled “The Women’s Pro Baseball League: Who, What, When, Where, Why – a zine for the baseball fan.” The background of the cover is a faded red and it has the WPBL logo – a capital letter W, with one of the lines replaced by a baseball bat – printed on it repeatedly.
Second image: A photo of a group of elderly women standing for a group photo, two old pictures of women in baseball gear, and a picture of Kelsie Whitmore of WPBL San Franciso throwing a pitch.
What is the WPBL?
The Women's Pro Baseball League is the first professional baseball league for women since the All American Girls' Professional Baseball League, immortalized in the film A League of Their Own.
The WPBL will bring the best in the world of women's baseball together. Four teams will represent New York, San Francisco, LA and Boston. Many players are coming from abroad: Canada, Australia, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Curacao, Venezuela; a few are pros already, some have represented their country in the Women's Baseball World Cup, others have been on amateur women's teams or played college baseball or softball. They range from teenagers to women in their late 30s.
Who is playing in the league?
Third image: Deane Benites (WPBL New York) in catcher’s gear throwing a ball, and Joely Leguizamon jumping up in the air, ball and mitt in hand are pictured on the page. Text reads:
Whose name should I know?
A sampler of players that the League promotes:
Kelsie Whitmore (WPBL SF), a two-way pitcher and hitter for the Savannah Bananas who was the first woman to play in an professional independent MLB Partner League.
Ashton Lansdell (WPBL LA), a third baseman, multiple time member of the US Women's Baseball National Team and player for the Party Animals in Bananaball.
Ayami Sato (WPBL LA), a Japanese ace pitcher and multiple time Women's Baseball World Cup gold medalist.
Mo'ne Davis (WPBL LA), a center fielder who made the cover of Sports Illustrated after she threw a shutout in the Little League World Series.
Some players I will also be following:
Denae Benites (WPBL NY), a hard hitting catcher for the US Women's National Team and another member of Bananaball.
Joey Leguizamon (WPBL SF) (Pictured right) a shortstop and roster member of the Dominican Republic Women's Baseball National Team.
Alli Schroder (WPBL BOS) a Canadian pitcher and wildland firefighter who, at sixteen, closed out Team Canada's 2018 bronze medal win over Team USA in the Women's Baseball World Cup.
Rakyung Kim (WPBL NY) a pitcher for Team South Korea and longtime women's baseball advocate.
Fourth image: Jaide Lee (WPBL New York) is pictured attempting to tag out diving Alli Schroder (WPBL Boston). Text reads:
When do games start?
Regular season play will begin on August 1st, 2026, though there will be pop-up events before then as part of the WPBL Countdown Tour. The season wilt last six weeks and end with a two week playoff tournament.
Where can I watch?
All games will be played at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois. According to the league, games wilt be broadcast on YouTube.
Fifth image: Raine Padgham, Alli Schroder (both WPBL Boston) and Jaida Lee (WPBL New York) are shown lying on the grass on their stomachs, heads propped up on their hands, laughing as they face the camera. Text reads:
Why is this happening now?
Women have been playing baseball for as long as baseball has existed. Vassar College girls formed a baseball club in 1866. In the 1890s, Bloomer Girls traveled the country for exhibition games against men. Then there was the AAGPBL of course, and in the 1990s the Colorado Silver Bullets briefly revived the dream of the pro women's team, albeit one that played against men.
Other countries like Canada or Australia offer nationwide amateur or semi-professional baseball leagues for women, all to feed into their national team programs that compete against each other in the Women's Baseball World Cup.
The US is the only country to neglect that pipeline. While there are teams for girls, there are next to none for women. The US National Team mostly pilfers players from college softball programs. Now, softball's great, but it's a different sport.
Riding the wave of the recent women's sports boom and as the culmination of many years of advocacy by women like Justine Siegal, league commissioner, the WPBL represents the first real chance in decades for women to be recognized as professional baseball players.
Why should I watch?
For fans, the thing to emphasize is that this league is new. It does not have to rely on stuffy conceptions of what a baseball player should look like or act like. WPBL SF player Amanda Gianelloni said it best:
“We have an opportunity to create the culture of women's baseball. No ones telling us we have to do things in a certain way. What is 'tradition?' The game that was built by men, for men to play? Why can't we take what is working in the MLB, working in Banana Ball, working in other women's leagues, and create the league that really moves the culture forward, that moves the game forward?"
Sixth image: Jill Albayati (WPBL San Francisco) is pictured batting for Team USA, and Mo’ne David (WPBL Los Angeles) is shown from behind, holding her bat behind her back. Text reads:
Regarding narrative: If you're sick of the Dodgers winning it all, in the WPBL we have no idea what will happen. While players here and there might have been teammates at one point or another, in the league, the entire player pool is shuffled. Teammates will become rivals, and rivals, teammates. This first season could be a tight four way race in the standings, the beginning of a juggernaut that dominates all the way to the championship, or maybe a crazy underdog comeback story we'll all be talking about in ten years. don't know about you, but any way the season goes I want to be able to say I saw it live.
We know this from the numbers - or the lack of them.
Outside of the limited stets from the Women's World Cup, no central year-over-year database like baseballreference.com really carries sufficient data to compare these women as we can with male players, who sometimes have 15+ years of data from college to the pros.
Based on the box scores of prior World Cups, at least, the women's game is dominated by singles and doubles in the gap, stolen bases and unpredictable pitching; it's an exciting, small-ball style that ought to set it immediately apart from the home run hitters in MLB.
Expect a lot of milestones, a lot of statistical weirdness, and the beginning of what is hopefully a storied record book. If you long for a game that is not yet optimized by sabermetric whizzes and gambling companies, this is your league.
Seventh image: Text on a very faded yellow background reads:
One thing we can be certain of is that these women will play with real passion. They have, all of them, worked so hard to squeeze in every bit of baseball they could between life, work and family. For the first time in most of their lives, they will be able to stretch their legs and focus entirely on their game as professional athletes.
Now is the time to watch and see what they can do.
womensprobaseballleague.org
