CME Group, the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, announced it will launch the world’s first Baseball futures on October 12, pending regulatory review. The new contracts will track CME FutureSports Performance Indexes (CME FSPI) that include statistics on the 30 professional baseball teams, beginning with the 2026 Postseason and the four clubs in the League Championship Series.

“CME Group provides price discovery and risk management across every major investable asset class, and we see an opportunity to bring investing and hedging discipline to the business of professional baseball,” said Tim McCourt, Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Equities, FX and Alternative Products at CME Group. “The innovative contracts we’re developing with FutureSports will be built on robust indexes using Official League Data, with the transparency and integrity that only regulated exchange-traded products deliver.”

CME Group Baseball futures will be available in standard-sized contracts, valued at 10x the underlying CME FSPI MLB indexes, and micro-sized contracts that are 1/10 the value of those indexes. Participants can trade live around the clock, allowing for immediate positions on a regulated exchange with central clearing safeguards, transparent pricing and equal market access.

CME FSPI structure official sports statistics into rules-based, benchmark financial metrics. The performance of the indexes will be calculated using systematic methodologies where point allocations follow transparent statistical frameworks – adding points for positive actions and subtracting for negative plays or setbacks.

The CME FSPI methodologies align with the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Principles for Financial Benchmarks and are supported by published governance and oversight procedures.

CME Group Baseball futures are listed on and subject to the rules of CME.

Source: CME