Briefly: MLS conference finals pit Eastern teams right off the top

After a two-week break for international play, the MLS playoffs resume Sunday with a conference final series that has the makings of an MLS Cup final.

The New York Red Bulls and Atlanta United played to the last day of the regular season before their fight for the Supporters' Shield was settled. The Red Bulls totaled the most points in league history, with Atlanta right behind. They will begin the two-game, total-goals series in Atlanta.

"I think this is exactly what MLS wanted in the playoffs," New York goalkeeper Luis Robles said.

The Western Conference final, pitting Portland and Sporting KC, also begins Sunday.

Hall of Fame coach and player Mike Ditka is recovering from a mild heart attack that led to doctors inserting a pacemaker.

Ditka, 79, is "doing much better" since surgery, said his agent, Steve Mandell.

• Green Bay placed Nick Perry on injured reserve because of a knee injury, ending the veteran outside linebacker's season. Rookie defensive end James Looney was signed from the practice squad to take Perry's spot on the roster for Sunday night's game against the Vikings.

The title game, in Edmonton, Alberta, will match up Calgary, which finished atop the West with a league-best 13-5 record, and Ottawa, first in the East at 11-7.

Ottawa coach Rick Campbell is the son of Hugh Campbell, who coached Edmonton to five Grey Cup titles in the '70s and '80s.

"This is a special place to me and a big part of my growing up," Rick Campbell said. "It is a big deal to me. I think I'm just trying to keep my emotions in check so I can do my best job for the team."

Emily Covert, two-time Class 2A cross-country champion for Minneapolis Washburn, won the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships Midwest Regional in Kenosha, Wis.

Covert finished the 5,000-meter race in 17 minutes, 58.3 seconds and reached the Foot Locker national finals for the second year in a row. Grace Ping, a two-time Class 1A champion for Winona Cotter, finished seventh in 18:49.4. Top-10 finishers qualify to run in the national finals Dec. 8 in San Diego.

Tennis: Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert kept French hopes alive in the Davis Cup final with a 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3) victory over Croatia's Ivan Dodig and Mate Pavic in doubles in Lille, France. Croatia leads France 2-1 with two singles matches scheduled for Sunday.

Figure skating: World champion Nathan Chen won the last round of figure skating's Grand Prix series and secured a spot in next month's final with a winning free skate at the Internationaux de France in Grenoble. Chen scored 184.64 for a total of 271.58 and won by 15 points. Sixteen-year-old Rika Kihira of Japan won the women's competition with a total of 205.92. American Bradie Tennell's strong free skate bumped her up to third place.

Soccer: Tottenham inflicted Chelsea's first loss in the English Premier League, winning 3-1 at Wembley Stadium. Manchester City and Liverpool both won and remain undefeated in the Premier League.

Auto racing: Five-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton won the pole position for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Hamilton, already the 2018 champion, won his 83rd pole, extending his own record.

Luge: Natalie Geisenberger's quest for a seventh straight World Cup women's overall championship began successfully when she won a World Cup race in Innsbruck, Austria, leading a German sweep of the top three spots.