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Will the Diamondbacks’ win in Game 7 of the NLCS force Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo to retire?

The iconic New York radio host felt very confident that the Phillies would be moving on to the World Series. Whoops.

Corbin Carroll of the Arizona Diamondbacks celebrates in the clubhouse after beating the Philadelphia Phillies in Game Seven of the Championship Series at Citizens Bank Park on October 24, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images

The Arizona Diamondbacks proved a lot of people wrong with their stunning win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 7 of the NLCS on Tuesday night. But they proved one person a bit more wrong than most: Long-time New York radio host Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo was so confident that it would be the Phillies moving on to the World Series that he pledged to retire if Arizona won.

Well, about that. Arizona once again stymied the Phillies’ fearsome bats, taking the lead for good in the fifth inning and holding on from there for a 4-2 win — and their first World Series berth since winning it all back in 2001.

As the game got into the later innings and Philly squandered chance after chance, it was clear that Russo was feeling the heat:

And once the final out was recorded, he seemed to confirm that he’d be standing by his promise:

Of course, it remains extremely unlikely that Russo will actually retire — this was all a great way to get everyone talking about him, after all, and he’d be crazy to turn down that sort of free publicity in the name of being a man of his word. One thing’s for sure, though: If Russo clocks into his radio show like usual on Wednesday, he’s going to have a hard time living this one down.