After 13 years, the Union have finally climbed above .500 all-time in regular-season games

It’s just a milestone, not a trophy or anything of equally lasting consequence. But it’s not a small milestone for a team that was a long way from it for a long time.

In their 13th year of existence, the Union finally climbed over the .500 mark all-time in MLS games with Sunday’s win over New York City FC. The team’s total regular-season record now stands at 149 wins, 148 losses and 112 ties.

Four years ago, the Union were 30 all-time games below .500, and had not been at even par at all since the second game in team history back in 2010. They regained the .500 plateau on April 9 of this year, then promptly lost their next game. After that, there were five straight ties in league play, a marquee win at Portland, and two more ties after that.

Now, at last, they have gone one better. And it was fitting that the win in question came against New York City FC, a club that, while five years younger, has been a measuring stick since well before winning last year’s championship.

» READ MORE: Union strike back for late win over NYCFC, 2-1

Sunday’s win was just the Union’s seventh in 19 meetings with NYCFC. It marks the first time they’ve beaten the Pigeons twice in a row, after earning their first win at Yankee Stadium back in March.

And at the end of the night, the Union stood in first place in the Eastern Conference — not just on total points (29), but on points per game (1.81). New York is second on both counts, with one fewer game played so far.

“This city loves winning teams. That’s what they want, that’s what they demand,” Union manager Jim Curtin said. “And you know, it took us a little while, but we’re maybe starting to give it to them.”

Curtin’s team gave the city a fair amount of agita, too, on Sunday, as he was first to admit. But the players snapped out of a second-half slumber after a brawl that featured the rarely-seen ejection of Union head trainer Paul Rushing, who was provoked while tending to an injured player on the field.

When José Andrés Martínez’s stoppage-time shot deflected in off Cory Burke, a crowd of 18,589 that included superstar Union alum Brenden Aaronson erupted. And after a long video review to confirm that Nathan Harriel wasn’t guilty of a last-second handball, the stands at Subaru Park erupted again.

» READ MORE: The dream has come true for Brenden Aaronson, with Leeds United and the U.S. men’s soccer team

“With winning, with success, with a kid like Brenden in here in the stadium tonight, with the crowd that we had,” Curtin said a few hours after Aaronson was the ceremonial pregame drum banger. He’s been home since this month’s U.S. national team camp ended, and will soon head to England to begin his Premier League adventure at Leeds United.

There was no one better to set the tone for the biggest game of the season.

“I think it’s becoming — not to oversimplify — but I think it’s becoming a cool thing to be at in the city, which is maybe the most powerful thing that you can have,” Curtin said. “It’s a great soccer city, it’s a great culture here in the city. But certainly, winning is what people respond to first and foremost.”

And those people include the ones in the Union’s owners’ box. Curtin has been around long enough to remember when the Union’s first U.S. Open Cup final runs felt like surprises amid years of mediocrity, and principal owner Jay Sugarman took a lot of heat for it.

Now things are different. The Union (7-1-8 this year, 29 points) are now one of 13 teams across Major League Soccer with all-time records above .500. That might not seem like a big deal, but it is less than half the league’s clubs — and the total was 12 at the start of the year. Real Salt Lake and the Union have joined the club this year, and D.C. United has left it.

And don’t forget that the Union have been over .500 across all competitions for a while. The combined record now stands at 178-167-113.

“We talk a lot about development, and it is important for us to produce players for the national team and sell players and make things profitable for ownership,” Curtin said. “But first and foremost, make no mistake, Jay Sugarman wants to win first, I want to win first, Ernst [Tanner, the sporting director] wants to win first, and this team wants to win. That is why we do this, and that’s why we’ve worked hard to get over that .500 mark. And now we want to keep pushing forward.”

The Union’s next game is Wednesday at the Chicago Fire (8 p.m., PHL17), their first meeting with Kacper Przybylko since he was traded to Chicago in January. Przybylko has three goals and one assist in 14 games for the Fire, who are in last place in the Eastern Conference (3-8-5, 14 points).

» READ MORE: A World Cup dream comes true for the Union’s Alejandro Bedoya and Jim Curtin — and Comcast’s Brian Roberts