Also, with the World Series in just a few days, how does the ASB sports scene develop, and is baseball (in this case) still a thing? I can imagine lots of sports (and thus professional sports leagues) being popular at the confederal level.
I imagine Lacrosse, being developed from an Indian sport, would be more popular in the ASB.
Football, in both American, Canadian, Rugby, and Association flavors, all developed from 12th-century "
Mob Football," where a single ball was kicked or carried to one end of the field or another in order to score points, kind of like
Rugby if Rugby didn't have actual rules. I imagine one or two offshoots would be popular here.
Baseball is developed from
Rounders, which was played in the 1500s, so there might be an offshoot here. However, it might be more like cricket or something completely foreign.
Basketball was made up as a way to play sports indoors when it's raining outside. This requires large indoor spaces designated for physical activity. Really, any sport that can conceivably be played indoors might become popular in the late 19th century which may or may not resemble OTL basketball.
Hockey has had many stick-and-ball-on-ice predecessors from many different cultures, such as the Mi'kmaq, the Norse, and the Dutch. It's pretty sensible; you need to keep your legs steady when you're on ice, so a stick is a necessity if you want to manipulate a ball. Some sport resembling ice hockey is practically a guarantee in the northern parts.
Most of the sports we play today were directly developed from English varieties of popular European sports. If French, Swedish, or Spanish varieties instead became popular, it might be an interesting divergence. Some of the continental sports played in the early modern era were:
La Soule, Normandy: Essentially like Mob Football, where many, sometimes hundreds of people in two neighboring parishes played to get the ball into their opponents' parish church or to bring it back to their own parish church, depending on the variant. Unlike the English variant, some of these games were played with sticks.
Brennball, Germany/Scandinavia: This is like Baseball, except very different: There is no pitcher; the batter throws the ball and hits it himself. The catching team then catches the ball and throws it back to home, at which point "Brand" is called. If someone is caught between bases at Brand, they go back to their last base (or to first base, depending on the variant), and the catching team gets a point. There can be more than one runner on a base, and each person passing fourth gets a point. Home runs get 6 points. If all the players are on bases and there's nobody left to hit, the catching team gets 5 points and all the running players go back to the hitting queue. Innings are timed rather than out-based.
Lapto, Russia: This is like baseball, except there are two bases which are more like end zones. The opposing team throws from their side, and you hit it; you run to the opposing team's side and then back to your side without getting hit by the ball, which is going to be thrown at you by the other team. You can stay in your opponent's side of the field if you think you won't be able to make it back to your side.
Gain-ground: The ancestor of
Tennis, Real Tennis, and other back-and-forth games. The rules are a bit like Tennis, except you have to bounce the ball off a wall in order for it to be fair, and if you miss the ball you have to serve the ball closer to the opponent's end of the field than where you missed the ball on your side of the field. Can be played with bare hands, gloves, or a racket. Many variants have no net. With more French influences in the ASB, I'd imagine a team variant of Gain-ground like
Jeu de Paume would be popular here.
Ballon a Poing: Similar to gain-ground, here the net is moved to mark where you missed the ball; if you missed the ball too close to your end of the field, you lose a point and the net is reset.
Frisian Handball: Related to Jeu de Paume, except a bit like Cricket in that I can't figure out the rules.
Basque Pelota: The ancestor of Jai alai, it's played bare-handed.
Valencian Pilota: Like Jeu de Paume, except the spectators can hit the ball if it lands in the stands and it's considered fair.
Boules: French variant of Bocce Ball, related to Bowling.
Native American Sports:
Pasuckuakohowog, apparently popular among Powhatans and Algonquin peoples, is essentially the same as mob football, except it is played on a beach.
Indigenous Stickball, played among many eastern North American and Canadian tribes, is the ancestor of Lacrosse: The ball is first thrown into the middle of the field, and the players fight each other to catch it using their netted sticks without touching it with their hands. Whoever catches it runs to the opponent's side of the field and throws it at the pole there before getting tackled by the defense. If possible, he can also hit the pole with his stick if the ball is in the net.
Snow Snake, played in the western Great Lakes area: Each team takes turns throwing wooden "snakes;" each team gets four throws per round, farthest gets two points and second-farthest gets one. Notably, each team specially crafts their own "snake" for distance between games, and this is considered part of the game's strategy. It's a bit simple to gain wide following, and it can't work with standardized equipment, so this one would have to be drastically changed before it can become popular.
In summation, the "Big Five" sports of the ASB would likely be:
-Carrying Football of some kind, popular all over
-Lacrosse, or some variant thereof, popular all over and especially in Indian-dominated areas
-Some variant of Gain-Ground, either with racket or with hands, probably the indoor sport of choice popular all over with regional variants.
-A stickball game like baseball, brennball, or cricket, popular all over
-Ice Hockey, popular in the northern areas.