New York Red Bulls hold bittersweet US sporting record

It is often said that consistency is key, but fans of the New York Red Bulls will hope that this season’s postseason journey is a departure from the norm.

NYRB are in the midst of their 15th consecutive playoff run, the longest active streak of postseason appearances in any major US sport. That streak spans half the length of MLS' entire existence as a comPetition.

The closest active streak in professional US Sports can be found in MLB where the LA Dodgers recently made a 12th consecutive playoff appearance. In the NBA the Boston Celtics are currently on a 10-year postseason streak, while the Kansas City Chiefs are at nine consecutive appearances in the NFL playoffs.

The longest-ever streaks in US sports can be found in the NHL, where seven different teams have gone more than 20 years without missing the postseason. The longest of those belongs to the Boston Bruins, who made the playoffs in 29 straight seasons from 1967/68 to 1995/96.

In a league as unpredictable as MLS the Red Bulls’ consistency ranks as a major achievement but it’s overshadowed by one glaring statistic: their 29-year wait for a first championship.

Red Bulls and the Curse of Caricola

The Red Bulls have made 25 playoff appearances in 29 MLS seasons, more than any other club in the league. But they are still yet to win a title and they have made it to the MLS Cup game only once.

Their championship drought was exacerbated in 2021 when city rivals New York City FC, founded in 2015, became the first team in the city to lift MLS Cup. That misfortunate is said to date back to an infamous incident in their first-ever comPetitive fixture.

Back in 1996 the Red Bulls, then known as the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, played their inaugural MLS fixture. Drawing 0-0 against the New England Revolution in the final minutes, former Juventus defender Nicola Caricola poked the ball into his own net from six yards out and ensured that their MLS debut would end in defeat. It took another 18 years for the Red Bulls to win their first piece of silverware, during which time the so-called Curse of Caricola became the team’s ‘original sin’ amongst more superstitious supporters.

The wait for a trophy was ended in 2013 when the Red Bulls won the first of three Supporters' Shields. But having failed to convert any of those into an MLS Cup win, NYRB retain their reputation as the nearly men of MLS.

Can New York Red Bulls finally lift MLS Cup?

After scraping into the playoffs to set up a Round One meeting with heavily-fancied Inter Miami, few expected the Red Bulls' season to extend beyond early November. But now, having slayed the No. 1 seed, there’s a growing sense that this team could make history.

They finished seventh in the Eastern Conference standings and struggled for consistency under head coach Sandro Schwartz. But they did show real promise at times, notably iNFLicting a first defeat of the season on Inter Miami back in March. Lewis Morgan scored a hat-trick in a 4-0 victory over the eventual Supporters' Shield winners.

After years of comparative under-investment the Red Bulls made a major splash ahead of the 2024 season, bringing in playmaker Emil Forsberg from Bundesliga side RB Leipzig. The acquisition of a big-name attacker signalled that NYRB were making a real push for silverware under Schwartz and Forsberg’s performances, when fit, have proved that he can be the man to lead this team to a championship.

“The best message for all of us here in the club and outside of the club is that the season is not over,” head coach Schwartz said after the victory over Columbus. They now stand just three games from glory, from the first MLS Cup title in team history.

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