U.S. Map of Baseball Teams by Zipcode. (By using Facebook data)

[Хahar 🤔]

I was under the impression that the Yankees were America's #1 team, but if you didn't like them, then the Red Sox were America's #2 team. (Similar to the Leafs / Habs dynamic in Canada)

Not nearly in the same way. The Leafs are much more popular in Canada than any sports team is in America. Furthermore, support for baseball teams in particular is heavily localized. Teams like the Yankees and Red Sox only show up in areas that lack a local team.

[Хahar 🤔]

I realize this is probably laughable ignorance on my part, but please remember that I'm a Southerner and thus have no exposure to the NHL ... the Habs are the Canadiens, I assume? Is that some kind of French pun or something?

Yes.

It is short for "Habitants", which is a French name for early settlers in colonial Quebec. But how it got applied to the hockey team, actually, I don't know.

"Canadien" in its original sense (the sense in which it's used in the team name) also refers to French-Canadians, the original inhabitants of Canada; in this sense it contrasts with "anglais".

[Хahar 🤔]

Original inhabitants of Canada certainly were not Frenchman.

THEY WERE INDIANS LIKE YOU, XAHAR! (Thought I'd correct ignorance with faux ignorance for you)

Well, yeah, obviously I meant the first inhabitants of the place who called it Canada.