Final season standings for 1990:
Only three of the eight teams that held first place at the All-Star break went on to make the playoffs: the Seattle Sea Monsters, Baltimore Blackbirds and Charlotte Roadrunners.
The Minnesota Lakers lost a close battle for the ABC North with the Indiana Fireflies. The Buffalo Destroyers continued their downward slide and faded all the way to last place, costing their manager his job.
The Atlanta Colonels also blew their division lead, losing a one-game playoff at home to finish choking away the ABC South title to the Cincinnati Silverbacks. Their manager also lost his job as a result of the collapse.
The New Jersey Stallions battled the Philadelphia Hornets all year long, but in the end the two-time defending NBC Champion Hornets won out. The Stallions missed the playoffs with a 93-win season, while watching an 82-win team make it. They filed a formal complaint after the season, demanding the return of the wild card.
The St. Louis Bears choked away a slim division lead and wound up finishing in a distant third. The Lions defeated the Bears at home in a one-game playoff to decide the NBC North title.
The Los Angeles Captains faded down the stretch, almost falling into third place in the process. The San Francisco Seals won the division with a mere 82 wins.
After two "Game 163s," the playoffs finally began.
The defending champion Baltimore Blackbirds swept the Indiana Fireflies, while it took the top-seeded Seattle Sea Monsters a full five games to knock off the upstart Cincinnati Silverbacks. Seattle won the first two games at home, but Cincinnati won both of their home games, forcing a Game 5.
The Philadelphia Hornets had their hands full with the 82-win Seals, who many expected to simply get swept. The Seals actually had a lead in extra innings in Game 5, but they could not hold it and Philadelphia walked it off to win the game and the series, by the skin of their teeth.
The Lions won their first two games, before losing Games 3 and 4 and bringing back memories of the "reverse sweep" they suffered a few years earlier at the hands of the Washington Eagles. However, they held on for a close Game 5 win.
In the NBC Championship Series, the Hornets blew out the Lions in the first two games, and then beat them in a close Game 3 to take a commanding lead. Cleveland won Game 4, but then got blown out again in Game 5 to send them home. This was the Hornets' third World Series appearance in a row; they made the 1988 and 1989 World Series as well, but lost both of them.
The ABC Championship Series was a lot closer, and while the Sea Monsters ended up winning it in five games as well, all the games were relatively close. This was Seattle's first World Series.
In the World Series, the Sea Monsters won the first two games at home, and then lost Games 3 and 4 in Philadelphia. They won Game 5, but then lost Game 6 back at home. In Game 7, they took a late lead and won the game and the series for their first ever championship. The Hornets have now lost three World Series in a row.
