Cleveland Indians first baseman Carlos Santana looks at the baseball after making a diving catch taking a hit away from the Miami Marlins Ichiro Suzuki, 3rd inning at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio on September 3, 2016. (Chuck Crow/The Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND -- Major League Baseball has always understood that gradual change is often preferred to a radical departure. Baseball's elegance resides in its deliberate nature and skepticism of trends that threaten to infiltrate the sport's cathedrals.
Indeed, of the big four North American sports, MLB in particular embraces a certain gradualism, nudging the game forward in a restrained fashion.