Former Chicago Cubs catcher David Ross was able to ride off into the sunset after a World Series championship capped off his career, but he almost had to stick around after losing a bet to Kyle Schwarber.

The catcher, who is now a special assistant in the Cubs’ Baseball Operations department, hopped on Rob Bradford’s podcast this week and described how he lost a bet to Schwarber and the Cubs’ travelling secretary about how many home runs he would hit during the campaign.

“I had a bet with Schwarber and our travelling secretary that if I hit 10 home runs, I was gonna come back,” he said. “I ended up hitting 10 plus two in the playoffs.”

Obviously Schwarber allowed him to back out of the bet, but Ross did have a truly remarkable year. The 10 home runs allowed him to get over 100 for his career, something that his teammates were pulling hard for him to do, and then his two home runs in the postseason added even more dramatic flair to his legacy, as he hit a long ball in Game 7 of the World Series to help the Cubs beat the Indians and capture the title.

For Ross, the opportunity to come back and see if he could help the Cubs repeat would have been a fun challenge, but he couldn’t hope to top the feeling that he got as Anthony Rizzo and Jason Heyward carried him off the field after the team’s victory.

“When your teammates pick you up and carry you off the field, I think that’s game, set, match right there,” he said.