The Pirates Have Freed Themselves

This has been a season full of special moments for Pirates fans. There was Gerrit Cole's exciting debut in June. We saw an amazing five Pirates go to the All Star Game.  Russell Martin has four walkoff hits on the year, which has only added to his amazing season at catcher.  Who could forget that thrilling five game series against St. Louis at the end of July at PNC Park, which saw the Pirates assert themselves as a baseball superpower, taking the first four from the shellshocked Cardinals.  None of these fun moments, however, could compare to what happened last night in Milwaukee.

It wasn't so much the way we won the game that made it so special. That's not to say that Gerrit Cole's superb six IP and Travis Snider's go-ahead homer in the ninth inning weren't impressive.  The reason last night's win mean so much is that it was the Buccos' 81st win of the season. For those that don't know, that means that the win guaranteed that the Pirates will not have a losing season.  That's right, the nightmare is over. The longest losing streak in American pro sports history is over.  It started in 1992 with that slide by Sid Bream, and it was punctuated last year when Homer Bailey no-hit the Bucs in Pittsburgh to guarantee their 20th consecutive losing season.  Between those two dates, Pirate fans had to put up with a lot.

There were countless blown draft picks: Selecting reliever Daniel Moskos over Matt Weiters (Who now plays catcher for the Baltimore Orioles) is a striking example.  There were so many trades that saw star players leave the team.  The prospects that did find their way into the Pirates' farm system were woefully mismanaged.  The team was controversial in its use of Navy Seal training tactics on their players, which ultimately caused players and prospects to avoid signing with the Pirates. All of this combined for a nightmarish 20 years of losing.

But that's all over. We're free. Last year, we couldn't celebrate the progress of the team because we still had the losing streak hanging over us, casting its shadow. Now that it has been vanquished, this team can accomplish anything.  They currently sit two games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals in first place in the NL Central Division.  It's September 4th, and the playoff chase is on. Fans celebrated last night's win, as they should have, but the players didn't dare.  They have one goal this year: Win the World Series. And with twenty years of losing lifted off their backs, they can fight to the end and maybe even bring it home. 

In honor of it being fun to be a Pirates fan right now, here's this: