A women’s professional baseball league will open in the United States next year for the first time in 72 years, bringing hope for players around the world, including Japan.

The Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) will feature six teams. Four U.S. cities have been named to host teams.

However, the league is open to players from abroad, and the draft is expected to feature representatives of several countries.

One Japanese hoping to play in the league is Emi Saeki, 24, from Takamatsu.

“The time has finally come for us to focus entirely on baseball,” she said.

In November last year, Saeki was thrilled when she received a message from a friend in Canada saying that a women’s professional baseball league would start in the United States in 2026.

The United States has not had a women’s professional baseball league since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (1943-1954). That league inspired the 1992 film “A League of Their Own.”

Saeki’s dream since childhood has been to star on baseball field on the world stage.

She is the youngest in a family of ballplayers. Both her parents and her older sister played the sport, so it was only natural for Saeki to pick up a bat and a glove.

She joined a team in the Yashima district in Kagawa Prefecture when she was in the second grade.

Through her sister, Saeki met Ryota Yamamoto, a former player for the independent league team Kagawa Olive Guyners.

Under Yamamoto’s tutelage, Saeki improved her skills.

In junior high school, she played on local club team Kagawa Olive Girls JHC. She was also a member of the school’s rubber-ball team, which included boys.

FACING DIFFICULTIES

In junior high school, when the gap in body size and muscle strength between boys and girls widened, she found it tough to compete in rubber-ball games.

But she never gave up.

“I thought about how I could contribute to the team,” she recalled. “I focused on keeping rallies alive, making sure our turn at bat didn’t end with me,” she said.

She focused on becoming a contact hitter instead of a long-ball threat. She also polished her “small-ball” skills and was known as a “hit-making machine” and a “bunt specialist.”

Wanting to play ball with a real baseball, she enrolled at powerhouse Kobe Koryo Gakuen High School in Hyogo Prefecture.

“I wanted to test myself in a different environment,” she recalled.

From autumn of her first year, she earned playing time and helped her team win the national high school girls’ hardball baseball youth championship.

But it was not easy for a female athlete to continue playing hardball, given the lack of opportunities.

After wondering what she should do after graduation, she decided to learn English at a vocational school in Osaka while seeking ways to continue playing baseball.

After graduating from the school, she spent about a year living in Canada. Although she didn’t expect to play baseball there, she brought along her cherished glove and spikes just in case.

Contrary to her expectations, her connection to baseball deepened while abroad.

She met players from the BC Aces, the women’s baseball representative team of British Columbia, and joined the squad.

After returning to Japan in 2023, she joined the Hanshin Tigers Women team. Other Nippon Professional Baseball teams also began establishing women’s teams, and the momentum for women’s hardball baseball grew in Japan.

However, Saeki said: “Even if the number of teams increases, they’re not professional. We still have to work another job to make a living while playing.”

The female players’ income was limited to part of merchandise sales. The players could not live solely on baseball.

CLOSER TO DREAM

The birth of WPBL could dramatically change the situation.

Anticipating the start of the league, Saeki left the Tigers after the 2024 season. In June this year, she returned to Canada and rejoined the BC Aces.

Two months later, Saeki stood on the field at Nationals Park in Washington, home of the Washington Nationals of the major leagues.

The final stage of the tryout was a seven-inning game format. While some players were not given a chance to play, Saeki appeared for three innings as a second baseman.

She passed the tryout and was included in the list of more than 120 candidate players. If she is selected in the draft on Nov. 20, she will fulfill her dream of becoming a professional baseball player.

“I’m glad I kept playing baseball. If you work hard, you can see an amazing world. I want to become a bridge for other players aiming for the American pro league,” she said.