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Good morning! Play a kid’s game today. Inside:
Hi, My Name Is: A new league with a simple premise
It’s the bold idea at the heart of a new league: baseball, played by women.
The past few years, the business momentum around women and bat-and-ball sports has focused on softball. With MLB’s backing, the Athletes Unlimited Softball League started up last year. This year, in the AUSL’s second season, it grew from four to six teams. The league is aiming to capitalize on a growing college game and the looming 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Women also have a long history playing the game with the smaller ball and overhand pitching. It’s just distant history at this point, at least professionally speaking. The United States has not sustained a long-term pro women’s baseball league since 1954, when the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League folded amid financial difficulties.
Now comes a new venture, the Women’s Pro Baseball League, which launched this month with four teams. The basics:
- The teams are the New York Heights, Boston Hunters, Los Angeles Queens and San Francisco Firebells. The city names are mainly for show this year. Every game is at a neutral site in Springfield, Ill. (The league has expressed hope that it will move teams to other cities in future years.)
- The rosters, 15 players apiece, include several players you might already know. Mo’ne Davis, pitching star of the 2014 Little League World Series — making her 25 years old (!) — plays center field for the Queens. The team’s ace is 36-year-old Ayami Sato of Japan, the greatest women’s pitcher ever. But the league’s defining player might be its No. 1 draft pick, Firebells pitcher Kelsie Whitmore. She’s been dominant in international play and has broken gender barriers in a couple of professional leagues, the Pioneer and Atlantic.
- The schedule is pretty simple, and condensed. Every team plays 15 games, with contests spread between Wednesdays and Sundays each week. The playoffs start Sept. 9 and will feature two three-game series followed by a five-game championship.
- The TV situation is also easy. Every game is on ESPN Select (or Unlimited). Several games are on Scripps Sports Network, and if you’re international, you can watch on YouTube.
- MLB isn’t an investor or sponsor, at least for now. As the league was holding tryouts last year, one of its cofounders said the WPBL wasn’t yet at the stage for such a partnership. But the league does list several big corporate sponsors for its inaugural season. Around the time of tryouts, the league said it was angling to raise around $3 million to get going.
Kiri Oler’s rundown of the first set of games, over at FanGraphs, is well worth reading if you’d like to get acquainted with how the early action has gone. Baseball is good, and it’s good when more people can play it. We’ll check back in with the WPBL as its season keeps moving.
News to Know
Melissa Tamez / Associated Press
A bizarre managerial blunder
The White Sox used eight pitchers in a wild 13-inning loss to Boston on Thursday, so their bullpen could’ve used a breather. Instead, umpires forced starter Noah Schultz to leave Friday’s game against the Guardians after just one out when manager Will Venable made the team’s second mound visit of the first inning. “Just messed it up,” Venable said after the White Sox fell 8-2. Not what the sputtering AL Central leaders needed.
Flea flicker, 3X reverse, WR pass, fake punt?
Not sure what’s crazier: that Akron’s football team is letting a random season-ticket holder help script its opening drive against Robert Morris, or that Akron’s coach is supportive of the stunt. Fun story — and excellent bulletin board fodder for Robert Morris.
More News
- Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes may not play in any preseason games, per coach Andy Reid.
- A Peruvian soccer team’s new kit has spaces for 1,000 sponsors. Actually kinda clever.
- Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke died of an accidental overdose of heroin and cocaine, per the medical examiner’s report.
- New Purdue AD Tommy McClelland had a golf metaphor for his catastrophically timed Indiana dig: “I put it right into the water.” Fair enough.
- The Athletics won’t be taking longtime general manager David Forst to Vegas, in what sources describe as a firing.
- The WNBA players’ union denounced “hate, abuse, and demonization” of transgender people amid backlash over Fever guard Sophie Cunningham’s opposition to trans athletes in women’s sports. Full story here.
- New Dodger Tarik Skubal said he’d happily return to Detroit as a free agent this offseason. Read his comments.
- Speaking of Dodgers, speedy prospect Kendall George underwent surgery months after injuring his knee leaping to avoid a bat dog.
- Raiders QB Kirk Cousins and edge rusher Maxx Crosby got into a brief scuffle at practice. Sounds like typical training-camp jawing tbh.
📰 Find more news here 24/7.
Watch Guide
📺 WNBA: Aces at Lynx
1 p.m. ET on CBS
Minnesota jumped to No. 1 in our WNBA power rankings this week. Thank Olivia Miles, the rookie having one of the great opening campaigns in league history.
📺 MLB: Guardians at White Sox
7:15 p.m. ET on Fox
By law, someone — and it’ll probably be one of these two — has to win the American League Central. This game basically counts for two in the pennant race.
Get tickets to games like this here.
Pulse Picks
Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; iStock
We’re all busy — really busy. But these three small habits mental performance coaches wish everyone would adopt actually all seem doable.
The gelato company Talenti was once a small, independent brand that was special, selective and premium. What happened? After taste-testing 34 pints and spending several months deep in a rabbit hole, here’s what I learned. — Annemarie Conte
Test your knowledge of this week’s sports news with our quiz.
I recently started buying Local Hive raw and unfiltered hot honey to throw into things I’m cooking (or if I’m going full disclosure, I’ll put it all over some cheese and crackers) and it’s a massive hit. Turns out “hot honey” is not just something to have at restaurants! You can stock your own! — Zach Harper
ICYMI: A retiree won an auction to join the Phillies’ radio booth — and crushed it.
This quinoa salad is my perfect summer side dish as well as an ideal meal prep base because it remains just as good (if not better) after a couple days in the fridge. Add whatever heartier toppings. (Gift link!) — Torrey Hart
Plenty has changed in the NHL over the past decade. Has it been for better or for worse? Tens of thousands of fans weighed in.
Wait, the creator of “New Girl” made a serial-killer crime drama?? Yep. And it’s really good. The first four episodes of Elizabeth Meriwether’s “Furious” are out on Hulu now. Dark, thought-provoking, full of female rage. — Hannah Vanbiber
If you’re looking for classic cocktails that aren’t too complicated, try equal-parts recipes like the Negroni (gin, Campari, sweet vermouth), Boulevardier (👈swap the gin for bourbon) and Last Word (gin, lime juice, maraschino liqueur and — this is admittedly pricey and a bit hard to obtain because it’s made by growth-averse monks — green Chartreuse). — Matt Piper
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our update on North Carolina defensive coordinator Steve Belichick going on medical leave.
📫 That’s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com, and check out our other newsletters.
