The New York Red Bulls lost the 2018 Eastern Conference Final, 3-1 on aggregate. But the team and its fans could at least look to the Western Conference Final for consolation: Sporting Kansas City hosted the second leg of that series; all KC needed to do was beat Portland Timbers in KC and RBNY would book its place in the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League.
The reason KC beating Portland would give RBNY a CCL berth next year is because the one remaining spot for an MLS club in CCL is for the winner of the 2018 MLS Cup.