diff --git a/eslint/babel-eslint-parser/src/convert/convertAST.cjs b/eslint/babel-eslint-parser/src/convert/convertAST.cjs
index fb2631b7d8ba..85c95052216d 100644
--- a/eslint/babel-eslint-parser/src/convert/convertAST.cjs
+++ b/eslint/babel-eslint-parser/src/convert/convertAST.cjs
@@ -77,17 +77,12 @@ const convertNodesVisitor = {
     if (node.type === "TemplateLiteral") {
       for (let i = 0; i < node.quasis.length; i++) {
         const q = node.quasis[i];
-
-        if (!q.range) {
-          q.range = [];
-        }
         q.range[0] -= 1;
         if (q.tail) {
           q.range[1] += 1;
         } else {
           q.range[1] += 2;
         }
-
         q.loc.start.column -= 1;
         if (q.tail) {
           q.loc.end.column += 1;
@@ -110,10 +105,6 @@ function convertProgramNode(ast) {
   delete ast.program;
   delete ast.errors;
 
-  if (!ast.range) {
-    ast.range = [];
-  }
-
   if (ast.comments.length) {
     const lastComment = ast.comments[ast.comments.length - 1];
 
diff --git a/eslint/babel-eslint-parser/src/convert/convertTokens.cjs b/eslint/babel-eslint-parser/src/convert/convertTokens.cjs
index 311929016687..8cdaa566e134 100644
--- a/eslint/babel-eslint-parser/src/convert/convertTokens.cjs
+++ b/eslint/babel-eslint-parser/src/convert/convertTokens.cjs
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ function convertTemplateType(tokens, tl) {
     templateTokens = [];
   }
 
-  (tokens || []).forEach(token => {
+  tokens.forEach(token => {
     switch (token.type.label) {
       case tl.backQuote:
         if (curlyBrace) {
diff --git a/eslint/babel-eslint-parser/src/worker/configuration.cjs b/eslint/babel-eslint-parser/src/worker/configuration.cjs
index 24877f5c59ef..5864863b37ac 100644
--- a/eslint/babel-eslint-parser/src/worker/configuration.cjs
+++ b/eslint/babel-eslint-parser/src/worker/configuration.cjs
@@ -58,15 +58,37 @@ function validateResolvedConfig(config, options) {
   }
 }
 
+function getDefaultParserOptions(options) {
+  return {
+    plugins: [],
+    ...options,
+    babelrc: false,
+    configFile: false,
+    browserslistConfigFile: false,
+    ignore: null,
+    only: null,
+  };
+}
+
 module.exports = function normalizeBabelParseConfig(options) {
   const parseOptions = normalizeParserOptions(options);
 
   if (process.env.BABEL_8_BREAKING) {
     return babel
       .loadPartialConfigAsync(parseOptions)
-      .then(config => validateResolvedConfig(config, options) || parseOptions);
+      .then(config => validateConfigWithFallback(config));
   } else {
     const config = babel.loadPartialConfigSync(parseOptions);
-    return validateResolvedConfig(config, options) || parseOptions;
+    return validateConfigWithFallback(config);
+  }
+
+  function validateConfigWithFallback(inputConfig) {
+    const result = validateResolvedConfig(inputConfig, options);
+    if (result) {
+      return result;
+    } else {
+      // Fallback when `loadPartialConfig` returns `null` (e.g.: when the file is ignored)
+      return getDefaultParserOptions(parseOptions);
+    }
   }
 };
diff --git a/eslint/babel-eslint-parser/src/worker/maybeParse.cjs b/eslint/babel-eslint-parser/src/worker/maybeParse.cjs
index 6c981968708a..22c6fcaa7147 100644
--- a/eslint/babel-eslint-parser/src/worker/maybeParse.cjs
+++ b/eslint/babel-eslint-parser/src/worker/maybeParse.cjs
@@ -15,11 +15,6 @@ module.exports = function maybeParse(code, options) {
       { dirname: __dirname, type: "plugin" },
     );
   }
-
-  if (!options.plugins) {
-    // May happen when `loadPartialConfigSync` returns `null` (e.g.: when the file is ignored)
-    options.plugins = [];
-  }
   options.plugins.push(extractParserOptionsConfigItem);
 
   try {