The 2011 New York Red Bulls season was the club's seventeenth year of existence, as well as its sixteenth season in Major League Soccer, the top-flight of American soccer. After a successful turnaround season in 2010, in which Red Bulls finished in third place overall before losing in the quarterfinals of the post-season tournament, the club started 2011 hoping to find consistency, make a deeper run in the MLS Cup Playoffs, and vie for the Supporters Shield. By season's end it was clear the club failed on all three fronts. Red Bulls were labeled the biggest underachievers in MLS after performing with a maddening inconsistency, struggling even to earn the 10th and final spot in an expanded playoff field, and falling again in the playoff quarterfinals.