For the first time in 21-years the Pittsburgh Pirates are finally heading back to the postseason.
On Monday the Pirates clinched a National League wild card slot after beating the Chicago Cubs 2-1 and with the Washington Nationals lost to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Now they must shift their attention to bigger goals, the kind that seemed nearly impossible for two decades.
''Even though I didn't lose for the last 20 years, they make you feel like you are. You feel like you lost those 20 years,'' Andrew McCutchen said. ''That's all you hear. You hear it every single day - 'When's it going to change? You think this is the year?' You get sick and tired of hearing that. It's awesome that there won't be any questions anymore. The question is, 'Are we going to be able to go farther?'''
This will be the Pirates first postseason trip since Barry Bonds, Jim Leyland and company that won three straight NL East titles from 1990-92. Once Bonds left for San Francisco as a free agent and that resulted in the small budget Pirates accumulating 20 consecutive losing seasons-the longest losing streak in the four major professional sports.
''The people of Pittsburgh have been waiting a long time,'' said Neil Walker, who homered.
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