The Philadelphia Phillies are reaching back into their past for inspiration on their 2025 MLB playoff run. With a pivotal NLDS Game 2 lined up on Monday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Phillies organization paid tribute to one of the team's and the game's all-time legends: the late Roy Halladay.
Monday marks the 15th anniversary of Halladay's postseason debut in which he threw his magical NLDS no-hitter. On Oct. 6, 2010, "Doc" took the mound at Citizens Bank Park for Game 1 of the NLDS and spun a masterful performance, no-hitting the Cincinnati Reds in a 4-0 Phillies win.
Phillies pay tribute to legend Roy Halladay on 15th anniversary of his NLDS no-hitter
With the players and fans anxiously awaiting the start of Game 2, everyone took a moment to remember Halladay and the greatness he brought to the game everytime he took the mound, but most especially on that October day in 2010.
The Phillies played a tribute video at the ballpark, showing the final out of Halladay's masterpiece, when catcher Carlos Ruiz grabbed a dribbler in front of the plate and threw out Jay Bruce at first base. Halladay's sons Braden and Ryan then took the field to throw out the ceremonial first pitch to Ruiz himself.
You can see the touching moment for yourself courtesy of The Philadelphia Inquirer's Lochlahn March's post on X:
On the 15th anniversary of Roy Halladay’s playoff no-hitter, his sons threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Carlos Ruiz pic.twitter.com/A4JWfGWAwi
— Lochlahn March (@lochlahn) October 6, 2025
After toiling away as one of baseball's best pitchers for most of the 2000s decade on a Toronto Blue Jays team going nowhere fast, Halladay was granted a trade to a contender for the 2010 season. He delivered and then some in his first season in Phillies red pinstripes, going 21-10 with a 2.44 ERA and 1.04 WHIP.
He led the majors with 8.5 bWAR in that Cy Young Award-winning season and was obviously going to get the ball for his first career start in the playoffs at age 33. Nobody knew just how special that day would be. It took him 104 pitches to get the 27 outs against the NL Central champion Reds. Striking out eight, his lone blemish was a walk to Jay Bruce.
Halladay tragically passed away in an airplane accident on Nov. 7, 2017 (subscription required). He has been honored multiple times since by both the Blue Jays and Phillies and was inducted posthumously into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.
Following the emotional ceremony, the Phillies took the field for Game 2 of their current NLDS, and all focus turned to the job at hand. After dropping Game 1 on Saturday in heartbreaking fashion, the Phillies will be looking to even up the series before heading to Los Angeles for Games 3 and (hopefully) 4.