The Women's Pro Baseball League has secured a media rights deal with ESPN and the Scripps Sports Network to air regular-season and postseason games in its inaugural campaign, the league announced ahead of its debut on Saturday.
ESPN will be the U.S. distributor for all regular-season and playoff games, while the Scripps Sports Network will broadcast a select slate of regular-season games. ESPN will stream 19 regular-season and postseason games in the U.S., with 11 games simulcast on Scripps Sports Network.
“Securing powerhouse broadcast distributors like ESPN and the Scripps Sports Network for our inaugural season is a monumental milestone for the Women’s Pro Baseball League,” Keith Stein, CEO of the WPBL, said in a statement distributed by the league. “This hybrid distribution model combines the digital reach of ESPN with the broad accessibility of the Scripps Sports Network. We are thrilled to bring the energy, talent, and excitement of professional women’s baseball into the homes of sports fans everywhere.”
The league has four teams — New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco — for its first year, and the 15 regular-season games for each club and the playoffs will be held at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois.
The WPBL's opening weekend will feature a game Saturday between the New York Heights — which includes Team USA's Denae Benites and Kylee Lahners — and the Los Angeles Queens, whose lineup boasts former little league star Mo’ne Davis and veteran Japanese pitcher Ayami Sato.
On Sunday, the WPBL’s No. 1 overall pick, pitcher Kelsie Whitmore of the San Francisco Firebells, will face the Boston Hunters, who have Canadian National team star Alli Schroder on their roster.
AP Sports: https://apnews.com/sports
FILE - Kelsie Whitmore pitches during a Women's Pro Baseball League practice, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Fort Myers, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
FILE - Mo'ne Davis watches her hit during a Women's Pro Baseball League exhibition game, Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Fort Myers, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
FILE - Ayami Sato pitches during a Women's Pro Baseball League exhibition game, Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Fort Myers, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — At 60, Too $hort is helping usher hip-hop into what he calls its senior citizen era. Just don’t expect him to rap like one.
The Oakland hip-hop pioneer is still recording, touring and talking slick more than four decades after he began selling homemade tapes on the streets of the Bay Area. While the genre has long treated aging like an unwritten career-ending offense, Too $hort is breaking the rule and challenging the culture’s elder statesmen to keep going with him.
His latest proof is “Sir Too $hort Vol. 2: Drink & Smoke,” his 23rd studio album, produced entirely by longtime collaborator Lil Jon. It arrives Friday, exactly 20 years after the release of his enduring hit “Blow the Whistle.”
Too $hort, whose catalog also includes classics like “The Ghetto” and “Shake That Monkey,” says he isn’t interested in slowing down anytime soon. That was certainly evident when he and E-40 performed at the NFL Honors in February.
In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Too $hort reflected on turning 60, challenging hip-hop’s age limits, preserving the legacy of Lil Jon’s late son, DJ Young Slade, the staying power of “Blow the Whistle” and why he has no plans to stop until “the wheels fall off.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
TOO $HORT: At the age of 14 or 15, my mentality was, “Let people hear this music. We’re going to rock some house parties and high school dances and sell some tapes to fans in the streets.” When I got my foot in the door, I knew this was going to be my job. It was always “till the wheels fall off.” It was never, “Let’s do this for 30 or 40 years.”
I’ve always said the day hip-hop is no longer my job is probably the day I’ll stop. But the love I have for hip-hop won’t allow me to stop recording. I’ve never taken a long break. I’ve continuously been in the studio, continuously doing shows. I just keep it going because it’s my job.
TOO $HORT: I truly love making music. It’s never felt like work. I could have stopped after “Blow the Whistle” and been like, “Story told.” But somebody’s got to go out into these uncharted waters and blaze the trail. Look at E-40,Snoop Dogg,Fat Joe and the other guys who kept going after the kids were grown and the grandkids were on the way.
Who laid the rule down that in hip-hop you gotta stop at 40? Every milestone they said was old. First it was 30, then it was 40, then it was 50. Now we got senior citizen rappers, and this ... is real. Hip-hop is entering the place where jazz, blues and R&B have older artists who are still performing and recording. We should too.
TOO $HORT: I don’t know if you could give me the ingredients and tell me how to do it again; I don’t think I could. It had to happen organically. I give Lil Jon a lot of credit because he’s made a lot of songs we’ve loved since the day they came out. We make good music together, and that’s why I’m excited for people to hear what we’re still doing 30 years after we first worked together.
TOO $HORT: His son passed away after we finished recording. We had actually done about twice as many songs as ended up on this project. I saw how it affected Jon, and I had recently lost my brother, so I knew that feeling of loss. The whole time, Slade was producing or co-producing a lot of the tracks I was working on. The first thing that came to me was that I’d be more than proud to be part of his son’s legacy and give something to the world that would help him live forever. Jon keeps saying, “Slade’s legacy,” and I’m just trying to be a part of that and show the world we lost another good, talented person.
TOO $HORT: We did one in 2020, but it wasn’t a battle. We had a good time. We did a lot of laughing, a lot of togetherness. I didn’t want to battle 40 then, and I don’t want to battle him now. That’s my best friend in hip-hop. I’d sign up for me and 40 against anybody. That’d be fun. They haven’t had two groups. … I put that out there: Who wants to battle Too $hort and E-40 in Verzuz?
Too $hort poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Too $hort poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Too $hort poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Too $hort poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Too $hort poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
