Japan Women's Baseball League

{{Infobox sports league

| current_season=

| logo=

| pixels=180px

| founded=17 August 2009

| Formerly=

| sport=Baseball

| country=Japan

| ceo = Takahiro Hikosō

| teams=4

| champion=Kyoto Flora

| most_champs =Aichi Dione (4)

| website=

}}

The {{nihongo|Japan Women's Baseball League|日本女子プロ野球リーグ|Nihon Joshi Puro Yakyū Rīgu|lead=yes}}, formerly Girls Professional Baseball League until 2012, was the highest level of women's baseball in Japan.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/sports/baseball/20iht-baseball20.html|title=For Some Women, the Name of the Game Is Baseball|last=Krieger|first=Daniel|date=2012-03-19|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-06-29}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.jwbl.jp/|title=日本女子プロ野球リーグ JWBL|website=www.jwbl.jp|access-date=2016-06-29|archive-date=15 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115174554/http://www.jwbl.jp/|url-status=dead}}

History

=2019=

On 26 August, it was announced that the league would suffer from severe contraction if new investors were not found and crowd number would not increase.{{Cite news |url=https://www.daily.co.jp/baseball/2019/08/26/0012642529.shtml |title=女子プロ野球機構が新規参入呼びかけ太田幸司氏「死にものぐるいで存続考える」/デイリースポーツ online |date=2019-08-26 |work=Daily |access-date=2020-02-18 |language=ja}}

On 9 November, it was announced that over half of the league's players had been released ahead of the 2020 season.{{Cite news |url=https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASMC872WGMC8PTQP00W.html |title=選手の半分以上が退団、女子プロ野球リーグに一体何が？：朝日新聞デジタル |date=2019-11-09 |work=Asahi Shimbun |access-date=2020-02-18 |language=ja}} In December 2021, the league announced it would shut down indefinitely.{{Cite web |url=https://www.jwbl.jp/ |title=女子プロ野球リーグ |access-date=22 February 2022 |archive-date=8 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308010141/https://www.jwbl.jp/ |url-status=dead }}

Teams

class="wikitable"
Team ! Location ! Former names ! Team color
Saitama Astraia \|Saitama \|East Astraia (2013–14) \|style="background-color: #ffa500;"\|
Aichi Dione \|Aichi \|Hyogo Swing Smileys (2010–12) South Dione (2013–14) Hyogo Dione (2015–17) \|style="background-color: #0000cd;"\|
Kyoto Flora \|Kyoto \|Kyoto Asto Dreams (2010–12) West Flora (2013–14) \|style="background-color: #ff0000;"\|
Reia \|Kyoto \|Osaka Brabee Honeys (2012) North Reia (2013–'14) Tohoku Reia (2015) \|style="background-color: #3cb371;"\|

class="wikitable"

Team

! Location

! Former names

! Team color

Saitama Astraia

|Saitama

|East Astraia (2013–14)

|style="background-color: #ffa500;"|

Aichi Dione

|Aichi

|Hyogo Swing Smileys (2010–12)
South Dione (2013–14)
Hyogo Dione (2015–17)