Michael Phelps to Throw Out First Pitch of Game 5 of NLCS

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Michael Phelps to Throw Out First Pitch of Game 5 of NLCS

Michael Phelps will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 5 of the National League Championships Series in Arizona.

Phelps will be on the mound ahead of Saturday’s Game 5. He will have time to check out an Arizona State meet, coached by his mentor and fellow International Swimming Hall of Famer Bob Bowman, at a long-course meet with NC State in town that morning. Game 5 is an 5:07 p.m. local time start.

Phelps is 28-time Olympic medalist, with 23 gold medals. The 27-time world champion, who retired after five gold medals at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, has settled with his growing family in Arizona. The native of Baltimore trained at Arizona State with Bowman at the end of his career and has used Arizona as a base for growing the Michael Phelps Foundation. Phelps was in attendance for Game 4 as a fan.

The NLCS has drawn plenty of attention from the swimming world. The first pitch for Game 3 was thrown out by Amy Van Dyken-Rouen, the six-time gold medalist who won four golds at the 1996 Atlanta Games. A native of Colorado, Van Dyken started her college career at the University of Arizona. She and her husband split their time between Arizona and Denver. The ISHOF inductee used to coach high school swimming in Scottsdale.

Honored & excited to have 6-time Olympic gold medalist @amyvandyken throw out the ceremonial first pitch before today’s game! pic.twitter.com/yA2eKqHyTp

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) October 19, 2023

In between them is former Arizona Cardinals great wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald for Game 4.

Arizona is in its first postseason since 2017. The final Wild Card team and sixth seed in the postseason, it upset NL Central champ Milwaukee and NL West winner Los Angeles to get to the NLCS for the first time since 2007. They lost the first two games in Philadelphia before evening the series at 2-2.

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