The merger resulted in a “new 1945 PCFL” looking remarkably similar to the previous year's edition.  The Seattle and Portland AFL teams did not participate in the new league; the AFL champion Hollywood Rangers refused to merge with the Hollywood Bears, which returned after
a two-season absence (the Rangers became an independent team in 1945 instead... and then folded after six games).  Bill Freelove's Los Angeles Mustangs were refused admittance into the merged league and met the same fate as the Rangers when they tried to play as an independent team in 1945.  When the dust of the merger settled, the new PCFL team lineup was the same as it was in 1944, except with the AFL San Francisco Clippers replacing the Packers and the returning Hollywood Bears replacing the short-lived Wolves of the same locale.
With the end of World War II, more changes were afoot in the newly merged PCFL.  Kenny Washington and Paul Schlisser returned to the Bears, who ended San Diego's string of league championships.  Tailback Dean McAdams, hero of the Rangers’ championship campaign of 1944, was scoring touchdowns for the Bulldogs in 1945.  San Diego had Bosh Pritchard, who would later be rushing for the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Bulldogs had a new quarterback who would later make a name for himself in San Francisco: Frankie Albert.  The NFL's color line was still about a year from being erased; Oakland's Mel Reid, banned by the NFL because of his race, was the PCFL's most valuable player in 1945.  On the field, it was a close race between the Bears (8-2-1) and the Giants (7-2-0), with the Bears taking the top spot by a slim half game.  In 1945 there still were no playoffs, so the Hollywood Bears would by named the 1945 PCFL Champions.