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Rob Manfred glossed over it, ending decades of shouts with what qualified as a shrug.

During a Feb. 10 news conference, the Major League Baseball commissioner went point by point in updating where the league and Players Association stood in talks to end the lockout. After a minute and a half of propaganda meant to show how much MLB has sacrificed – agreeing to a draft lottery to help curb tanking, higher minimum wages for inexperienced players – Manfred announced the new normal for baseball.

“We’ve agreed to a universal designated hitter,” Manfred said, squashing nearly 50 years of debate with seven words.