The undefeated Union can pass another historic milestone this weekend

It’s significant that the Union are the last undefeated team in Major League Soccer this year. But this weekend, that isn’t the only milestone on deck.

If the Union win Saturday, the club’s all-time regular-season record will go above .500 for the first time in its history.

In fact, it’s a milestone on its own that the Union reached the .500 mark with last weekend’s win over Columbus: 147 wins, 147 losses and 105 ties. It’s the only time the Union have ever been at even par since their first-ever home game back in 2010, which they won after losing their inaugural contest in Seattle.

Yes, the Union have been below .500 all-time in MLS play ever since. In fact, they hit their low water mark just four years ago. In the 2018 season, they were 30 games below .500 four times from May 9 to Aug. 4.

» READ MORE: Looking back at the Union’s first home game

“I’m proud of all the work of all the staff, all the players — they’re the ones that deserve the credit, and the culture here is strong,” said manager Jim Curtin, who has seen it all in his tenure: eight years in charge, two years as an assistant before then, and a span as a youth team coach from 2010-12.

“To turn it into a winning culture, I think, took time for sure,” Curtin said. “It’s been maybe a faster rise in the last, you know, three or four seasons where it’s kind of come together. The ideas have been executed; a lot of hard work has gone into it; a lot of money has been invested in the youth that maybe people don’t recognize; and a lot of money has been invested on first-team players.”

On top of that, as the Delaware County Times recently pointed out, only 13 of MLS’s 28 teams have all-time records of .500 or better — under half of the league’s participants. For a competition long defined by competitive balance — or parity, if you prefer that term — that’s an interesting measuring stick.

The Union have taken a lot of heat over the years for not spending as much money on star players as other MLS teams. The pressure to keep the checkbook open won’t let up, to be sure. But principal owner Jay Sugarman and his top-suite colleagues Richie Graham (who bankrolls the academy) and Richard Leibovich kept their discipline.

“At a time when a lot of teams decided to just maybe buy individual big names, Jay had a vision, along with Richie Graham, and then obviously Mr. Leibovich coming on board [in 2018],” Curtin said. “Where we were going to do it in a different way, we were going to really trust our youth. And now you’re starting to see that plan come to fruition, and the results have followed.”

» READ MORE: Rose Lavelle, Catarina Macario, and Trinity Rodman entertain Philly fans in USWNT’s 9-0 win over Uzbekistan

How do the Union compare to Philly’s big four pro teams? The city’s two most famous outfits have the worst all-time records.

The Eagles are 599-627-27 in their 90 seasons; the Phillies had 9,938 wins and 11,116 losses entering the weekend.

The two all-time winning teams on Pattison Avenue are the 76ers, currently at 3,000-2,777 as they prepare for the playoffs; and the Flyers, with 2,102 wins, 1,492 losses, 194 overtime or shootout losses, and 457 ties.

It’s worth noting that when it comes to the Union, if you count all official competitions — such as playoff games, the U.S. Open Cup, and the Concacaf Champions League — the team is well above .500 all-time: 176 wins, 165 losses, and 106 ties. The bar was cleared last Oct. 9 in a win at FC Cincinnati.

But those other tournaments include a mix of lower-division teams (in the Open Cup) and bigger foreign opponents (in the Champions League). The regular season is where the Union most often take on teams comparatively their own size, resource-wise. (Though it’s well-known that plenty of MLS teams spend a lot more on players than the Union do.)

So getting over the .500 mark in regular-season play will allow the Union to refute a claim that’s long been thrown at them: that they’re one of MLS’s lesser clubs.

They still aren’t a financial or trophy juggernaut, but with a victory on Saturday, the Union will officially be overall winners.