The Chicago Bears and Indiana Fever aren’t the only professional sports teams to embrace “Simone Biles mania.”

 

 

Biles’ appearance at the Bears’ preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals 11 days ago made headlines, as did her attendance at Wednesday’s 84-80 Fever win over the Connecticut Sun.

 

 

And now the Houston Astros are getting in on the fun, as it was announced Biles, an 11-time Olympic medalist, would be making a special appearance at their game against the Kansas City Royals on Friday at Minute Maid Park. Per Mark Berman, the former Fox 26 sports director, the Astros will celebrate all 2024 Olympians from the Houston area, including Biles, before their game on Friday with Biles throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.

 

 

Friday won’t be the first time Biles has thrown out the first pitch at an Astros game. She did so back in 2019 at Game 2 of the World Series in a moment that went instantly viral with millions of views and hundreds of thousands of reposts.

 

 

Biles pulled off a twisting somersault backflip right in front of the mound before grabbing a ball and firing it toward home plate (despite Biles in attendance the Astros ended up losing 12-3). Considering the result of that 2019 game, perhaps the Astros should give Biles one of their navy alternates or a navy city connect jersey in hopes of a better outcome on Friday.