MLB is going all in on elevating the women's diamond, with the men's pro baseball league reportedly making an eight-figure investment for an equity stake of over 20% in the brand-new Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) — just in time for the venture's debut season.

Though MLB has a long history partnering with USA Softball and sponsoring initiatives in and around the game of softball, this week's AUSL announcement marks the baseball organization's first-ever investment in a professional softball league.

"We thought rather than starting on our own and competing, that finding a place where we could invest and grow a business was a better opportunity," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told the Associated Press on Thursday.

Along with the financial backing that will bolster AUSL's operations and growth plans, MLB is partnering with the new league to boost its visibility through marketing, sales, and content distribution across MLB platforms — including the airing of select AUSL games on MLB Network and MLB.com.

"This is a watershed moment for women's sports and especially for softball," AUSL Commissioner Kim Ng — who notably broke barriers in her previous career as an SVP and, later, GM in MLB — said in a league statement.

"MLB's investment will supercharge our efforts to build the sustainable professional league this sport has long deserved, and sends a powerful message about the value of female athletes and the importance of creating professional opportunities for them."

Softball legends pitch in to build Athletes United success

Athletes Unlimited has been active in the softball space with their unique, individual athlete-centered competition system since 2020, with AUSL marking their first stab at a more traditional league format.

Beginning with the league's first pitch on June 7th, four teams — the Bandits, Blaze, Talons, and Volts — will play a traveling 24-game season across 10 cities prior to a best-of-three championship series between the top two AUSL teams in late July.

With an advisory board of former college and Team USA stars — including Jennie Finch, Natasha Watley, Jessica Mendoza, and Cat Osterman — plus a roster of US softball legends-turned-NCAA coaches like Lisa Fernandez (UCLA) and Stacey Nuveman-Deniz (San Diego State) leading the four teams, AUSL is tapping the sport's best to build a strong foundation for future league success.

With plans to establish city-based squads next year, AUSL is capitalizing on one of the country's most popular college sports — all while creating a sustainable pipeline for current and future NCAA softball stars to turn pro.

The Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) hired former MLB executive Kim Ng as its first-ever commissioner on Wednesday, tapping into Ng’s 21 years of top-level experience ahead of the league’s inaugural 2025 season.

After becoming the youngest assistant general manager in baseball history for the New York Yankees in 1998, Ng inked another line into the record books as the first woman GM in any major US men’s sports league in November 2020, when she took over the front office for MLB’s Miami Marlins.

Her three-season tenure in Miami culminated in a 2023 playoff appearance — the Marlins' first in 20 years.

Ng's pivot to softball is a homecoming for the trailblazing 56-year-old exec, who played NCAA softball before breaking down MLB barriers.

"I think after 30-plus years in the business, I also owe it to myself to do some things that I hadn't necessarily had the opportunity to do in the past," Ng told The Athletic about her decision to join AUSL. "And this is, for me, it's a passion."

Prior to her commissioner appointment, Ng served as a senior advisor for AUSL, helping to develop the league into existence from a landscape full of growing parity at the college level, yet few viable pro opportunities.

"Knowing what an established, mature system of governance looks like, I think will be really helpful in establishing this league," Ng added.

AUSL takes the field with 2025 tour

Launching on June 7th — immediately following the 2025 NCAA Women's College World Series — each of the AUSL's four inaugural teams will play 24 games across a seven-week season.

The league's 2025 debut will function as a tour, with regular-season games played across eight different cities before two additional locations are added for the first-ever AUSL All-Star Cup in August.

Each city is auditioning to become one of six permanent markets for the league, which will transition to a traditional location-based set-up in 2026.