The Women’s Professional Baseball League Is One Month Old

The Women's Professional Baseball League is now one month old; they have played 25 games; and they have had their growing pains. (Photo by Caleb Bowlin/Getty Images)

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It’s been one month since the Women’s Professional Baseball League kicked off to much fanfare in Springfield, Illinois. Through the end of last weekend, there have been 25 games, with the San Francisco Firebells now sitting in first place amongst the four teams. The inaugural game drew a sellout crowd of more than 4,000 fans, but attendance has dropped precipitously since then. The league has not announced official tallies since the opening game, but with games on Wednesdays and Thursdays (as well as Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), and with school being back in session, it was not shocking that fan fervor died down.

Despite the dwindling crowds, the action on the field has still been exciting and informative.

Pitching

Japanese legend Ayami Sato of the Los Angeles Queens has been good but certainly not great through the first month of the WPBL season. (Photo by Jessie Alcheh/Getty Images)

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With the league settled in, it is clear that the offense is outpacing the pitching. Acclaimed Japanese pitcher Ayami Sato was the second pick in the draft. Her pedigree spoke for itself, as she had actually played on a men’s team in Canada. So she was the perfect choice to start the first-ever WPBL game. She didn’t make it past the third inning. In those three stanzas she gave up ten hits and seven runs (four earned). For the season she has a 6.86 ERA.

Kelsie Whitmore, the number one draft pick and two-way player, has a 7.20 ERA over 20 innings. And the fourth pick in the draft, Alli Schroder, is rocking an 8.59 ERA over 14-2/3 innings.

Hitting

Kelsie Whitmore is swinging the hottest bat in the WPBL after the first month of the season. (Photo by Zoe Davis/Getty Images)

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Swinging with metal bats has certainly enhanced the offensive nature of the game, with more than 60% of the games having at least one team score in double digits. More than 40% of the hitters have at least one home run, led by Whitmore and Denae Benites, each of whom has nine dingers. Those two also lead the league in OPS, battling with 1.805 and 1.714, respectively.

Two-Way Stars

Maggie Foxx, who plays for the Los Angeles Queens, previously played softball at Brown, helping them win the 2024 Ivy League championship. In the WPBL she is both pitching and catching, and putting up great numbers in each position. Foxx’s teammate Jamie Mackay also catches and pitches, and while her pitching numbers are not as robust, she is third in the league with five home runs.

Problems Abound

Unfortunately, the action on the field is being somewhat obscured by issues off of it. For instance, while all of the WPBL games are broadcast on ESPN+, that does not mean that they are broadcast well. The announcers have been slow to report the action on the field, and not always accurate when doing so. Further, according to The Athletic, “in-game announcer roles have changed hands multiple times with no formal explanation from the league.” In fact, sideline reporters have had to assist offering play-by-play in certain games. And the aforementioned Foxx added a third leg to her WPBL stool when she made a cameo in the booth in the middle of one Queens games. Not to be outdone, her father did a full game of play by play when called on in a pinch. And, by all accounts, he did a fantastic job.

Oddly, the Boston Hunters parted ways with their manager, former Red Sox closer Keith Foulke, after just three games. Despite the fact that the entire WPBL season is less than two months long, and that the games are just played Wednesday through Sunday, the dismissal was reportedly over a “scheduling conflict.” Foulke was replaced by former big leaguer Jemile Weeks. The team, which was 1-2 under Foulke is 3-6 under Weeks.

Unfortunately, the larger issue may be legal and financial. Again, according to The Athletic, board member Mina Kim has asked a Delaware judge to grant her access to the league’s financial records. In a civil complaint filed even before the season began, Kim averred that she spent several months trying to obtain documents to “investigate potential wrongdoing, mismanagement, conflicts of interest, and material omissions that have impaired the [WPBL] Board’s ability to act in an informed manner.” For what it is worth, the remainder of the WPBL board remains unified – for the league and against Kim. However, that simply reinforces Kim’s allegation that there are conflicts of interest among board members and with regard to the WPBL’s hiring practices. The case is ongoing, and most likely will not be fully litigated or resolved until after the inaugural season champion is determined the third week of September.

Growing Pains?

Everyone involved with the WPBL knew that building a new professional sports league would be an uphill battle met with speed bumps and growing pains. Will the issues with the books, among the board, in the booth, or on the bump derail the league or just provide a list of matters that need to be addressed going into season two? Only time will tell.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com

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