On a cool, early November Sunday evening, Red Bull Arena was the theater for a familiar tragic play.
A dejected Dax McCarty, bearing the disappointment of another early playoff exit on his face for all to see, clapped the fans who stuck around long after the result was decided.
McCarty almost seemed apologetic; MVP candidate and MLS assist king Sacha Kljestan was literally apologetic in his post-match comments, shouldering the blame for the New York Red Bulls’ failure to get past the Montreal Impact.
The melodrama of a premature playoff exit is just about the only post-season story RBNY knows.