‘Baseball Girl’ stage will be held in the US in 2026

Expanding the base of women’s professional sports such as basketball and hockey… Launch of the world’s only WPBL

The stage for ‘baseball girls’ around the world is broadening. This is because the Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL) will be launched in the United States in 2026. WPBL will be the world’s only women’s professional baseball league.

The U.S.’s ‘The Athletic’ announced on the 30th that WPBL plans to launch in 2026. Six teams based in the northeastern United States participate in the WPBL.

WPBL co-founder Justin Segal (pictured) is the first female coach in the American professional baseball major league. He coached independent league club the Brockton Rocks in 2009 and coached baseball at Springfield College before coaching players in the 2015 MLB Oakland Athletics Instructional League.

Siegel dreamed of becoming a baseball player since she was a child, attending Cleveland Guardians games, but after realizing there was no place for female players in baseball, she changed her career path to becoming a coach. With the launch of WPBL, a stage will be created where ‘baseball girls’ like Segal can pursue their dreams.

Former Toronto Blue Jays coach Cito Gaston served as a special advisor to the WPBL. Former coach Gaston led Toronto to two consecutive World Series wins from 1992 to 1993.

“The WPBL and NWSL (National Women’s Professional Soccer League) were born because of the tremendous interest and support for women’s sports,” said Keith Stein, a businessman who was named as a co-founder of the league along with Segal.

In the United States, the base of women’s professional sports is gradually expanding.

The viewership ratings for the final game of the women’s professional basketball WNBA Finals reached an all-time high, and the total number of viewers for the finals series increased by 115% compared to last year. Women’s professional hockey plans to expand the league by adding two teams next season.

In the past, Japan also had a women’s professional baseball league, JWBL. At the time, it was the world’s only women’s professional baseball league. JWBL, which started with two teams in 2009, expanded to four teams, but was effectively abolished in 2021 due to declining popularity and financial difficulties. Currently, only the women’s baseball professional league is operated in Japan.

Among Korea’s four major ball sports – soccer, baseball, basketball, and volleyball – baseball is the only sport that does not have a women’s (semi) professional league.

In women’s baseball, there is not even an unemployment league. There is no school women’s baseball team, so aspiring female baseball players have no way to receive elite physical education. Even as an adult, in order to pursue a career as a baseball player, I had to go to Japan.

The path to becoming a female professional baseball player in Korea is still far away. But at least there is one more option for baseball girls to dream of.