CHICAGO — If the Chicago Cubs rally to win this World Series, the degree of difficulty will make the victory even sweeter. They would need to win three in a row from the Cleveland Indians, including two on the road, to make it happen.

No baseball team has won quite that way since the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates upended the Orioles in Baltimore. But there is a recent precedent in sports: The Cleveland Cavaliers trailed the Golden State Warriors, three games to one, in the N.B.A. Finals in June, only to storm back and win the title in Oakland.

It would be a cruel kind of karma for the Indians to lose in roughly the same way the Cavaliers won. But after four games of this World Series, there is little to show that the Cubs are up for it. The Indians’ formula — timely hitting and a few great pitchers — offers a narrow pathway to victory, but the Cubs have opened the lanes for them three times.

“It’s just been abnormal in some ways,” Cubs Manager Joe Maddon said, in a true understatement. The Indians carry 12 pitchers but basically rely on four, and yet they are one win from a championship.