Ep. 32 | Women's Pro Baseball Ends a 70-Year Blackout, NWSL Playoff Race, WNBA Last Two In Predictions

Women's professional baseball is back after more than 70 years, and the new WPBL is playing its entire first season in Springfield, Illinois. We wanted to know how we got here.This is a history episode with a purpose. Caitlin walks through 160 years of women trying to get on a baseball field, from college teams in the 1860s to a league that finally stuck in 2026, and then we get into how the Women's Pro Baseball League is actually built, funded, and staffed. After that, playoff math: who grabs the last two spots in the NWSL and the WNBA.This week we dig into:- The long history: Vassar's Resolutes fielding a team in 1866, the first known paid women's game in Springfield in 1875, the barnstorming era of the Bloomer Girls and the Dolly Vardens, and Jackie Mitchell striking out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in a 1931 exhibition before commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis voided her contract for being "too strenuous" for women- The AAGPBL and everything "A League of Their Own" skipped: the charm school and skirts, 910,000 fans at the 1948 peak, the Negro Leagues players like Toni Stone, Mamie "Peanut" Johnson and Connie Morgan who were shut out of it, and Maria Pepe's Little League fight that opened youth baseball to girls in 1974- Inside the WPBL: co-founders Justine Siegal and Keith Stein, four teams named for women pioneers (Boston Hunters, New York Heights, Los Angeles Queens, San Francisco Firebells), a 30-game season at Robin Roberts Stadium, seven innings and aluminum bats, draft names like Kelsie Whitmore, Ayami Sato and Mo'ne Davis, and why MLB's total silence is getting noticed by fans- NWSL playoff race: North Carolina's brutal closing slate, Angel City's streakiness, why Seattle Reign are suddenly live with Jess Fishlock back and Lumen Field theirs again, and Orlando's Barbra Banda dependency problem- WNBA playoff picture: New York hanging on by Breanna Stewart's health, a surging Washington Mystics team leaning on very young players, Chicago's inability to close one-score games, Kelsey Plum's move to Phoenix, and why Indiana is the top-six team we think is most likely to slideWe also get into the 17-day FIBA World Cup break and what it does to momentum, the WAFCON semifinals and World Cup qualifying stakes, and the weekend What to Watch, including the first WPBL games we've put on the list.Follow Raising the Game for weekly women's sports coverage.Instagram/Threads/YouTube: @rtg_podWebsite: rtgpod.comSubstack: substack.com/@raisingthegamepodcastEmail: [email protected]