TypeScript support as its implemented in CRA just uses Babel like it did before, with some minor modifications such as also passing it .ts files. In parallel, it also runs the ForkTSChecker plugin for Webpack, which notifies you of type errors you made - however, it would work just the same if that plugin was not activated. Hence, there is far less divergence from regular CRA projects.
A way to think about it is to consider TypeScript to be a linter, like ESlint - but one that you can help by annotating your code with e.g. the types of values you expect it to get passed. Babel can now strip those annotations before it transpiles your code, but you still need TypeScript to do the actual "linting". See https://vincenttunru.com/TypeScript-vs-Javascript
If you set the build target to ES5 you can still use modern features like async/await and it will rewrite them using a regenerator function that runs on older platforms.
Like most metaphors, it's not a one-on-one match.