To be a Pirates fan is cool again.

Finally, the underdog Pirates took a one-game lead against the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central on Monday. The team also won over the host Milwaukee Brewers 5-2, while the Cardinals lost to the host Cincinnati Reds.

The last time that Pirates performed this well and actually won this late in the season was in 1992, which was the last post time they posted their last winning record. The Pirates' string of 20 consecutive losing seasons is not only the longest in history of North American professional sports, it made it quite laughable to become a fan of Pirates afterwards.

Hiring Hurdle in November 2010 might be the catalyst for this turnaround. Back in 2010, Hurdle talked about completing the triangle and making Pirates return to its old prominent and winning self held by NFL's Steelers and NHL's Penguins.

The team members cannot be happier. "It's a lot of fun," according to Pirates second baseman Neil Walker. He added, "I lived through the frustration of losing, both as a fan and a player, and it's great to see things turn around. He also shared, "I'd go to Steelers games, and people would wish you good luck, but then you would hear them say things like 'Your team sucks' as they'd be walking away. People can't say that about us anymore."

Pirates showed it meant business, when it comes to winning that is, when the team bolstered their lineup by exchanging the Minnesota Twins for first baseman Justin Morneau and the New York Mets for catcher John Buck and outfielder Marlon Byrd.

According to Andrew McCutchen, the star centre fielder of the team, this shows the team is serious winning something this time around, and that their losing streak ends here and now.

The Pirates achieved their 80th win on Monday. Just one more and the team could already break 20 years of losing seasons and two victories to be assured of finishing above .500.

"It's been a long time since there's been a winning season here, but our goals are higher than that," the team's right-handed pitcher A.J. Burnett shared. "It'd be disappointing at the end of the season if we'd look back and say the biggest thing we accomplished was having a winning season.

"We want more. We want a championship." Burnett claimed.