It's time to talk dynasty.
And it's time to talk as if Bruce Bochy and Brian Sabean are in the same class as Bill Walsh.
Because, by all measures, that's where they're at.
With a 3-2 win over the Kansas City Royals in Game 7, the San Francisco Giants have wrapped up the franchise's third World Series title in five seasons. That means a run of postseason dominance that's more title than torture, and a run of success that's second to only one other team in baseball history.
And, in the pantheon of Bay Area sports, it's a run that's rivaled only by Joe Montana, Bill Walsh and the glory years of the 1980s 49ers.
The Giants franchise has now appeared in 20 World Series matchups, counting the days when the Giants played at New York's Polo Grounds. That's second all-time, behind the New York Yankees and their 40 appearances in the biggest series (and 27 titles).
The Giants' eighth championship is also good for fourth all-time, behind regular October foils St. Louis, the Philadelphia-Kansas City-Oakland A's, and those same Yankees.
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With three titles won on the West Coast, any and all talk from A's fans about the better club is also silenced.
1989 was a long time ago, and Tony LaRussa is not walking through that door with Rickey Henderson and the Bash Brothers in tow anytime soon.
Coincidentally, a run of three titles in five years is also the best showing by a Major League Baseball team since the Yankees' bout of success in the late 1990s, when they won three in a row and four out of five World Series titles.
Nobody has since come close to that. Nobody has won consecutive titles, and only one team, the 2008-2009 Phillies, have won consecutive pennants. The Giants, in their own way, have come closest.
Though when sports dynasties are discussed, another Bay Area team may still be on top of the mountain, never to be dislodged: the Giants' old co-tenants at Candlestick Park, the 49ers.
For now.
The 49ers won five straight division titles in the 1980s, and seven out of the 10 titles in that decade, en route to their four Super Bowl titles of the 1980s.
That's the gold standard. But the Giants are on pace to exceed that.
And consider how the Giants have done it: with no Matt Cain this season, with Barry Zito pitching the game of his career in 2012, with Edgar Renteria winning the MVP in 2010. Hard to imagine a 49ers title with Roger Craig missing a year in the prime of his career, or the likes of John Taylor winning an MVP away from Jerry Rice.
Then consider that the Giants are, for now, the lone pro sports team to play in San Francisco.
Only one team is bringing San Francisco the kind of glory that other cities dream of, and they wear orange and black.
One of these days, we could be enjoying another victory parade down Bruce Bochy Street, and get showered with confetti at the corner of Brian Sabean Avenue.
