As many have said this is a tactical reaction to changes in pitching and defense. It always amazes me how balanced the game of baseball is compared to other sports. It's been around for more than a century and people have become so much stronger and faster on both sides of the ball. Still, offense and defense remain so perfectly matched. The bases remain 90 feet apart and the pitcher still throws from 60 feet away. A…
I think that's more a matter of what the organizers think is best commercially than a signal that baseball is special. Like many other games, it allows people in a wide range of capabilities to play a game that is enjoyable to watch. That would probably be different if not for rule changes. For example, requiring wooden bats at top level likely was necessary to prevent offense from overpowering defense.
(That may be a somewhat generic pattern. In both tennis and table tennis, rules were adjusted when players started hitting the ball too hard. Similarly, in javelin throwing, the javelin was changed a few times to prevent players from throwing it out of the stadium)