WotC didn't say, "You should pick human, dwarf, elf [etc.] if you play a fighter." They set things up so that those were the options if you wanted a 16 str/dex, and players themselves then decreed that those were the "acceptable" options because they were the ones that granted a 16.
In the DMG, where they give examples of how to make a new race, they talk about how they wanted aasimar to be good clerics and paladins (using those words), and so gave them ASIs to support that.
In 2e, where tieflings were introduced, they get a -2 Charisma
penalty. In 5e, where Charisma-based warlocks are a thing and of course tieflings are going to be fiendlocks, they get a Charisma
bonus. (I have no idea what tiefs were like in 4e).
WotC was
definitely intending certain class/race combos.