If the Chicago Cubs were going to win the World Series, it almost feels like this is exactly the way it should have gone.

It was an epic Game 7 against the Cleveland Indians, with the story not written until Michael Martinez’s ground ball was thrown across from Kris Bryant to Anthony Rizzo for the final out. That ended the longest World Series title drought and gave the Cubs their first championship since 1908.

The history

The Cubs' drought lasted 39,465 days, the last two years of which were spent with Joe Maddon as manager. The drought is the longest to end with a Game 7 victory. The previous one, per the Elias Sports Bureau, was 62 years by the Senators/Twins franchise.

The Cubs are the sixth team to come back from a 3-1 deficit in a best-of-seven World Series and the first to do so since the 1985 Royals. The Cubs became the the third team to go from 100 losses to a World Series title within five years, joining the 1914 Braves and 1969 Mets.

It was a total team effort to the very end. Eight Cubs had an RBI, the most players to have one in a winner-take-all World Series game.

Having used Jon Lester and Aroldis Chapman, Joe Maddon patched the 10th inning together between Carl Edwards Jr. and Mike Montgomery.

Edwards, a 48th-round pick by the Rangers in 2011, was traded to the Cubs in 2013. Montgomery was obtained from the Mariners five days before Chapman. Montgomery’s save was the first of his professional baseball career.

The MVP

Ben Zobrist hit .357 in the World Series, and he finished with the hit that put the Cubs ahead in the 10th inning. He’s the first player with an extra-inning, game-winning RBI in a winner-take-all World Series game since Edgar Renteria of the 1997 Marlins.

Elias notes that Zobrist became the fourth player to win back-to-back World Series titles in different leagues. The other three were Moose Skowron, Don Gullett and Jake Peavy.

Zobrist is the first player to win a World Series MVP in his first season with a team since Jermaine Dye of the 2005 White Sox.

The manager

The World Series win completed Joe Maddon’s second year as manager. The second anniversary of his introductory press conference is Thursday.

When asked about trying to win the first World Series in more than 100 years, he said, "The challenge is so outstanding, how could you not want to be in this seat?"

Maddon is now 3-0 all-time in postseason winner-take-all games against Terry Francona as a manager. Elias notes that he’s the only manager with three winner-take-all wins against another manager.

What made the game epic

It didn’t look like it was going to be an all-time classic until the eighth inning, when Aroldis Chapman entered. He was on the verge of finishing the frame when Rajai Davis hit a game-tying, two-run home run. It was the latest game-tying home run in a winner-take-all World Series game.

Another baseball season concluded

The 2016 season is one that will be long remembered. It lasted 213 days, 11 hours and 32 minutes of real time. The combined playing time of all 2,463 games was 316 days, 15 hours and 8 minutes.

For the Cubs, it probably felt like 300 years by the time it was done. But the end proved to be worth it.