[arghwhat]

It could not. I presume that by "baseline", you refer to a USB2.0 Type A to Type C cable.

USB type C is designed to remain passive until it knows if something is connected, and what it is. For most cable types, orientation must also be detected.

This means that there must be something in the cable/plug. This could of course have been a short, but to do that, those pins would have to be dedicated to detecting dumb cables.

Having no pins to waste, a resistor is used instead, which allows not only allows for multiple values for detection, but leaves the pins usable for transmission while detect resistors are in place (Power Delivery, Alternate Modes).

And there is absolutely no issue in that resistor. Everyone found the table, but either failed to read the 3 values, or decided "Hey, more amps is better!", ignoring whether or not the type A end would actually be able to supply it.