MLB’s pathetic punishment for throwing at a player’s head needs to change

Suspensions in baseball are based on precedent, and precedent, in the case of Red Sox pitcher Matt Barnes throwing a 90-mph fastball inches behind the head of Orioles star Manny Machado on Sunday, says he will face anywhere from a three- to six-game ban. This is ridiculous, and Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have good reason to work together, make an example of Barnes and end the farcical tradition that places the entire sport in peril every time a pitcher is foolish enough to engage in it. Imagine, for a moment, that Barnes’ pitch did hit Machado.