Toronto FC had a playoff spot in their hands, but they let it slip through their fingers.

Toronto suffered an embarrassing 5-0 loss to the hometown New York Red Bulls on Saturday night in their Major League Soccer regular-season finale, a humbling result against the worst team in the league.

A victory over New York (5-19-6), eliminated from playoff contention long ago, would have put Toronto (10-11-9) in pole position to claim a post-season berth for the first time in franchise history.

But the loss to the lowly Red Bulls, combined with a 2-2 draw between D.C. United and the Kansas City Wizards in a game that finished later Saturday night, officially killed the Reds' playoff dreams on the final weekend of the season.

The 5-0 loss to New York is Toronto's heaviest defeat since it joined MLS in 2007.

In what was touted beforehand as the biggest game in club history, Toronto came up with its worst-ever performance and worst-ever result against a New York team that is considered one of the worst in league history.

Dwayne De Rosario, who finished as the team's leading scorer this season with 11 goals, will feel especially aggrieved — the Canadian midfielder never missed the playoffs in his eight previous MLS campaigns with San Jose and Houston prior to joining Toronto FC in January.

This has been a tough year for Toronto sports fans, as none of the city's major pro sports franchises — the Maple Leafs, Argos, Raptors, Argos and now Toronto FC — qualified for the playoffs in their respective leagues.

The start of Saturday's match at Giants Stadium was delayed for 25 minutes due to thunderstorms and heavy rain that washed out Game 6 of the American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels earlier in the evening.

The thunder eventually stopped, but the rain was still coming down with biblical fury when Macoumba Kandji took a pass from Juan Pablo Angel and fired a low shot past Toronto goalkeeper Brian Edwards to give New York the lead after two minutes.

Toronto quickly responded with both Amado Guevara and Adrian Serioux unleashing long-distance shots on net, forcing Red Bulls goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul to make a pair of diving saves.

Angel padded New York's lead in the 33rd minute, taking advantage of a costly defensive error by Serioux and slotting a shot by Edwards.

Any chance of a comeback by Toronto was put to rest by Angel in the 62nd minute when the Colombian's shot from just inside the box slipped underneath Edwards and into the back of the net.

Kandji netted his second goal of the game eight minutes later and the final humiliation came for Toronto in injury time when Matthew Mbuta converted from the penalty spot.

Saturday's game was the Red Bulls' last at Giants Stadium, their home since entering the league in 1996. The team moves into its brand new stadium, Red Bull Arena, for the 2010 MLS campaign.