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Gambling is the worst sin a participant can commit against Baseball, period. It is the one sin that undermines the competitive integrity of the game because of its potential to lead players into throwing games, or otherwise acting in a non-competitive manner in the service of satisfying a bet, or satisfying outside associates with betting ties to the game. Nothing else, not even the use of steroids, leads to this kind of behavior.
If players are led to act in a non-competitive manner with regard to the game on the field, it undermines the confidence that people have in the competitive integrity of the game, and since baseball relies on the perception of unfettered competitive integrity, the shattering of that confidence is a fatal blow to the game. Without unfettered competitive integrity, there is no baseball―there is only theater. And that's why gambling can never be allowed to sully the game that's played on the field under any circumstances, and Baseball has determined any participant who engages in this form of gambling while participating in the game must be expelled permanently, as a warning to all others who participate in the game. This is not my determination because I'm a hater who's gonna hate. This is Baseball's determination to make, and theirs alone.
I don't know how much more clearly this point can be made, but if anyone believes that maintaining this unfettered competitive integrity is not important to baseball, then they truly do not understand what Baseball is trying to accomplish with its business.
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