Women’s Pro Baseball League to Launch in Spring 2026 with Six Teams

The Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) will make its debut in May 2026, introducing six teams and marking the only professional women’s baseball competition in the United States.

Interest is already surging. More than 600 women registered for last month’s open tryouts in Washington, D.C. the first women’s baseball tryout of its kind since 1943, when the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) formed. That pioneering league ran from 1943 to 1954 and later inspired the 1992 film A League of Their Own.

WPBL officials have shared images from the D.C. sessions on social media and say announcements are coming on franchise cities and the site of the inaugural league draft.

“The opportunity to play in a women’s league is huge just because when I was younger, there was nothing like this around,” Davis told MLB.com “For younger girls to have something to look forward to as they get older is really fun.

I know they always say, ‘Oh, go to softball,’ but it’s two completely different sports. So when you have something to look forward to, it makes things 10 times better. You have something in life that you want to go and achieve.”

Among the hopefuls is Mo’ne Davis, the former Hampton University softball player who, at 13, became the first girl to earn a win, and throw a shutout, at the Little League World Series in 2014. “The opportunity to play in a women’s league is huge,” Davis said, noting that girls have long been urged to switch to softball.

“It’s two completely different sports. When you have something to look forward to, it makes things 10 times better.”

When the WPBL takes the field next spring, it will be just the second time in U.S. history that a professional baseball league features women players, underscoring a landmark moment for the sport and a new pathway from youth baseball to the pro ranks.