For the first time in club history, the New York Red Bulls will miss the Major League Soccer playoffs in consecutive seasons. The team's postseason hopes were officially dashed Sunday night following a 3-2 defeat to Nashville SC, which saw them concede three unanswered goals, including a stoppage-time winner.
The loss, combined with the Columbus Crew's victory over D.C. United, eliminated the Red Bulls with one match remaining in the 2026 season. This marks a significant disappointment for the club, which made substantial changes in the preceding offseason after ending a 15-year playoff streak.
Head of sport Jochen Schneider and head coach Sandro Schwarz departed the organization. Julian de Guzman was promoted to head of sport, and Michael Bradley took over as head coach of the first team after a stint with Red Bulls II. The new leadership oversaw a significant roster overhaul, including the additions of Jorge Ruvalcaba and Cade Cowell.
Despite these changes, the team struggled to find consistency throughout the season. Sunday's match exemplified this, with the Red Bulls holding a 2-0 lead at halftime before seeing Nashville rally in the second half.
"The work to become a really good team, the work to become a team that can hold up on the toughest days and that can play in the biggest games, compete in the hardest moments, that work is hard," Bradley stated post-match. "That’s not always a journey that just goes step by step exactly the way that you want it. There are setbacks, and there’s adversity, and there are hard moments that you have to respond to and be ready to learn and go again."
He added, "Obviously, that’s where we are. Obviously, it’s really disappointing and heartbreaking that we couldn’t, at the end of this season, find a way to get ourselves into the playoffs and see if we could make a real run at it. Because in a lot of ways we were doing a lot of things in a good way, but now we have to understand how we can grow, improve, harden ourselves, and mature and become ready to take the next step. And we will."
The Red Bulls' elimination follows a similar fate for New York City FC, who were also knocked out of playoff contention on Saturday after a draw with CF Montreal. This season marks the first time since NYCFC joined MLS in 2015 that neither of the city's teams will participate in the postseason.