In the days when the National League was split into just East and West divisions with the winners advancing directly to LCS play, the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates enjoyed a lively postseason rivalry. They met four times in the 1970s to settle the NL pennant and the Reds won three of those. The rivalry […]
To say the 1990 Cincinnati Reds entered the season with question marks would be an understatement The team endured a tumultuous 1989 surrounding the banishment of then-manager Pete Rose for gambling. Certainly no one expected 1990 would end with Cincinnati’s first World Series title since the Big Red Machine Days of 1975 and 1976. That’s […]
It was Cincinnati’s first time on top since the days of the Big Red Machine. As for Oakland, with three straight pennants and a 1989 World Series title, there was no question what they’d accomplished. But this stunning sweep in the 1990 World Series marked twice in three years that they’d folded up in the Fall Classic as a heavy favorite.
Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of sports history articles aimed at preserving the best moments of the modern sports era, from 1976 to the present. The focus is team sports—college & pro basketball and football, major league baseball and hockey.
This article offers a snapshot of 1990 sports, a year that saw a big upsets in the key NFL playoff games and complete college football chaos break out.