Since 1990, the Japanese professional baseball league has permitted

Question

Since 1990, the Japanese professional baseball league has permitted the use of a special bat made from a combination of wood and plastic. In each subsequent year, the Japanese league has reported fewer instances of bat breakage than has U.S. major league baseball. Based solely on this information, American team owners have enthusiastically reported to the Commissioner of American Baseball that the plastic-wood bats are more durable and break less easily than American all-wood bats.

The conclusion drawn by the team owners assumes each of the following EXCEPT that

The conclusion drawn by the team owners assumes each of the following EXCEPT that  
 
A. the Japanese baseball season is not comprised of significantly fewer baseball games
B. in both the U.S. and Japanese baseball leagues, batters are equally strong and pitchers throw equally fast
C. the plastic-wood bat differs from all wood bats only in its durability, and would not otherwise significantly alter the game of baseball
D. the reported instances of bat breakage in both the U.S. and Japanese baseball leagues accurately reflect the true ratio of Japanese-to-U.S. bat breakage
E. since the Japanese league has permitted the use of the new bat, it has been used by a significant number of batters

purring · Answer

Can someone explain why is the answer C? The bat being stronger should not "significantly alter the game of baseball".

AbhishekP220108 · Answer

Amity007

Lets look at the Argument what the author wants us to know.

Premise: Permission to use bat made from plastic and wood was granted by JPBL in 1990 and in each subsequent year the bat breakage reported and lesser in comparison to US league baseball.

Conlusion:Using premise as reason the Commissioner of American baseball concluded that plastic-wood bats are more durable and break less easily than American all-wood bats.

Questions asks to find odd one out assumption.

An assumption is a must be true and if assumption is negated it will break the conclusion. So while arriving at conclusion what all the commissioner has assumed. Putting yourself as a commissioner and reading the premise and conclusion, the question may arrise that what if the no. Of japanese games are less in comparison to US? Whether after the permission is granted, are the Japanese using these bats?

Having this much of thinking let's look at the option choices

A,B,D and E are all in line of our thinking and if negated breaks the conclusion. While option C compares the bat but doesn't tells much about it's uses. Also if negated it doesn't hampers the conclusion. Hence C

guddo · Answer

The passage shows that since Japan introduced a plastic-wood bat in 1990, they've reported fewer bat breakages than the U.S. each year. American team owners take that as proof the new bat is more durable.

The team owners are basically assuming that nothing else besides the bat type explains the difference in breakage. Let’s go through the options one by one.

They  are  assuming:

A: that the Japanese season isn’t much shorter (fewer games would mean less wear).
B: that hitters and pitchers are similar in strength and speed in both leagues (otherwise, swing force could differ).
D: that the reported breakage numbers are accurate and comparable.
E: that the new bat is actually being used by a lot of players in Japan (otherwise, lower breakage could just mean fewer bats in use).

But I suppose they are  not  assuming C. Their conclusion is only about durability. Even if the bat changed other parts of baseball, like how far the ball travels, that wouldn’t affect whether it breaks less often. So C is an extra claim they don’t need to make to conclude it’s more durable.

So the exception is C.

AbhishekP220108 · Answer

purring

The bat being stronger and not altering the game has nothing to do with the comparison of no. of bat breakage. How can we tell if the game is altered the breakage of bat is happening.

Since 1990, the Japanese professional baseball league has permitted

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