It’s to make baseball less boring by helping the initial run get on base.
It lets them go full tilt all the way to the bag instead of having to slow to try and stop on the bag, so they can overcome the disadvantage of having to wait for their own hit to run.
Also, the rule is that they have to follow through the run outside of the foul line to stay safe. If they turn inward like they would if they were considering running on, then they are just like any other runner and can be tagged out.
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