What can the last five World Series Game 7s tell us about how this year's Fall Classic will end?

We suspected it when the Cubs jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning of Game 6 on Tuesday. The feeling got stronger after Addison Russell's grand slam in the top of the third. But it wasn't until Jason Kipnis popped out in the bottom of the ninth and the Cubs put the game away, 9-3, that we could finally say the sweetest words in sports: Game 7.
On Wednesday, Chicago and Cleveland will face off in an epic final at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.
One team will end a very (in one case, very, very) long title drought. The other, well -- there's always next year. But it would be nice to have an inkling about how this game will end ...
So, let's read the box score tea leaves of the past five Game 7s and see if they have anything to tell us about the future. 
2014 - Giants vs. Royals
This was the Game 7 in which the Giants' Even Year Magic went head-to-head with the Royals' Little Wild Card Team That Could. It was also, as you might remember, the Game 7 in which Madison Bumgarner locked down the longest save in World Series history. He relieved Jeremy Affeldt in the fifth inning, and the rest is history:

Who's to say this couldn't happen again? We're not saying that Madison Bumgarner is going to show up in a Cubs jersey and a Jake Arrieta mask -- the Cubs will have some very capable starters available in relief. After Game 6, Arrieta told reporters he'd be ready for Game 7, and Joe Maddon suggested that John Lackey and Jon Lester would also be available out of the bullpen..

Jon Lester: “Tomorrow, there are no rules, no boundaries, no guidelines.” Said he’ll be available but hopes “nothing weird is needed.” @MLB

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 2, 2016

2011 - Rangers vs. Cardinals
The 2011 Game 7 seemed extremely unlikely during Game 6. The Rangers were just one out away from the title, and the Cardinals were just one out away from certain defeat. But then, there was David Freese. The '11 WS MVP tripled to tie the game, and then hit a walk-off homer to force Game 7. Texas scored two runs early, but St. Louis tied it up immediately. Allen Craig hit a go-ahead homer in the third inning and, in perhaps the most eye-catching moment of the night, robbed Nelson Cruz of a home run in the sixth:

If it's dazzling catches in the outfield you're after, the Cubs have got you covered.

Cleveland might be interested in recreating St. Louis righty Chris Carpenter's success in the Fall Classic -- he started three games in the World Series, and won the last on short rest -- with Wednesday's starter, Cory Kluber. But there is one aspect of 2011's Game 7 they probably don't want to see again: then-Ranger Mike Napoli grounding out in the bottom of the ninth.
2002 - Giants vs. Angels
Napoli was at 2011's Game 7, but two Cubs were present for 2002's Giants-Angels matchup. Here, we'll let one of them tell you about it in his own words:
Q. What is your recollection of the Game 7 you were involved in as a coach with the Angels, the intensity and the finality of it? Did you enjoy that?

JOE MADDON: First of all, the Game 7, I remember you've got to go back to Game 6, the way we had come back in that game, and we felt really good about Game 7 after we won Game 6. They chose to not pitch Kirk Rueter, and they pitched a right-hander. I think it was Hernandez. El Duque's brother, Livan. They pitched him, which we liked, because we thought we matched up better with that as opposed to left-hand [pitchers].

So all these little vibes going into that game we felt good about it. We had Lackey pitching, we felt good about that. The bullpen was strong, and then G [Garret Anderson] hits that double in the corner, and is very, very believable to that point.

That's why this time of the year ... catching a significant lead ... is really important. It's very difficult for the other team to battle back from a deficit right now. So we did in that Game 6, it was like 5-0, actually. That Game 7, we got on top.
Yes, before he made it to the World Series with the Rays in 2008, Maddon was a bench coach with the '02 Angels. And, he was there when John Lackey became the first rookie pitcher to get a win in a World Series Game 7 since the Pirates' Babe Adams in 1909.
Game 7 in 2002 also introduced the world to a dominant reliever who racked up strikeouts like less athletic folks collect coins in Mario games.

In the 2002 postseason, Francisco Rodríguez struck out 28 over 18.2 innings pitched. So far, in the 2016 postseason, Cleveland's Andrew Miller has struck out 29 over 17 innings pitched and has only given up a single run (a homer to Dexter Fowler in Game 4).
2001 - Yankees vs. D-backs
But no reliever, no matter how feared, can make the save every time. Mariano Rivera, for whom the American League Reliever of the Year Award is now named, struck out the side in the eighth inning of the Yankees' 2001 Game 7 against the D-backs. But he wasn't so lucky in the ninth -- after Tony Womack doubled to tie the game, Mo hit Craig Counsell with a pitch to load the bases. Luis Gonzalez then singled in the winning run to seal the D-backs' first-ever championship::

Both the Cubs and the Indians can take heart from this: If that could happen to Rivera, neither Miller nor breaker-of-Statcast Aroldis Chapman is invulnerable.
1997 - Indians vs. Marlins
The last time Cleveland was in the World Series, it also came down to Game 7. Then-manager Mike Hargrove started Jaret Wright on short rest after he'd helped pitch his team to a 10-3 win in Game 4. But Kluber, whose Game 4 performance last Saturday ended in a 7-2 Indians victory, is probably hoping for better results than Wright's.
Though Wright struck out seven and only allowed two hits over 6 1/3 innings pitched, he also gave up a home run to Bobby Bonilla to start the seventh:

That homer didn't portend well -- the Marlins tied the game with another run scored in the ninth, before Edgar Renteria singled in the winning run in extras. The Marlins defeated the Indians, 3-2, and won their very first World Series.
But that just goes to show you that neither team should expect a predestined victory. Before Renteria's victorious single, Counsell (this time on the Marlins), hit a ground ball that probably should have started a double play. But thanks to an error by Tony Fernandez, he made it to first base. When he finally came around to score the winning run, it was by the thinnest stroke of luck - Renteria's walk-off single brushed off pitcher Charles Nagy's glove before landing in center field. Nagy wasn't a reliever by trade -- he had started Game 3, which just goes to show you that the MadBum strategy doesn't always work.

So, to Joe Maddon and Terry Francona, who we assume are reading this post for tips: Sometimes history repeats itself … and sometimes, it takes off on a completely uncharted path. Tune in tonight at 8 p.m. ET on FOX to see what will happen in this Game 7.