It's over.

Finally.

It's been 20 years since the Pittsburgh Pirates — and perhaps more importantly, the fans — have enjoyed a winning season.

The club wrapped that up in Arlington Monday night with a 1-0 win over the Texas Rangers.

It had been nearly a week since the Pirates won No. 81 and the waiting was unbearable for most.

And now here it is and the Twitterverse blew up in the aftermath.

Some tweets from assorted people on my feed:

“Pirates win No. 82. It's a beautiful thing. Can we burn all those replays of Sid Bream now?” — ESPN's Jayson Stark.

“... did you have Sept. 9, 2013 in last year's Butler Eagle poll for the Bucs to end the streak?” — my friend and my wife's cousin, Todd Nelson.

“I know everyone is fired up about the start of football, but may I just take this opportunity to say GO PIRATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” — former KDKA anchor Sonni Abatta.

“For the first time since I have been alive, the Pirates have a winning season. This is awesome,” — Karns City High junior Brad Bowser.

I think that last tweet is a telling one. There is an entire generation of people who had not experienced winning baseball in Pittsburgh.

To them, the Pirates were always losers, always irrelevant, always a distant third among the city's three major professional sports franchises.

Now, their love for baseball has been stoked.

For some of the older fans, it has been rekindled.

I think of my wife's aunt, Pat. She is the most diehard Pirates' fan I know.

When I met her nearly seven years ago, the Buccos were nowhere close to being a .500-plus team. In fact, we had a bet that if the Bucs had a winning season, I would walk from Butler to Pittsburgh for the home opener the next season.

I had no fear of losing.

Even last year, when the Pirates collapsed, she remained upbeat.

Her loyalty has finally been rewarded.

For the fans this is something special. For the players, though, there is much more to be done.

Eighty two wins is merely average. Sure, it's great now because the 20-year losing streak— the longest such drought in professional sports history — is mercifully over.

However, there are bigger fish to fry.

The 82nd win was big, not just because it symbolically brought to an end two decades of futility, but because it got the Pirates a half-game closer to the idle St. Louis Cardinals in the division race.

Ending the 20-year playoff drought is much more meaningful than merely having a winning season.

Making the playoffs is something that should really be celebrated.

And, who knows, a World Series? Stranger things have happened

And these Pirates have us thinking, “Why not?”

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.