I do agree | should have higher precedence.
Using comments like this
if () { command | ;comment | ;comment }
does not improve reading to begin with, and i honestly dont see why anyone would want to do it.
| signals a "new line"
| is ignored in
; this doesnt echo | echo -a yay
where its easily traceable
In a condensed if it would be hard to spot a literal | and a "new line" |. in fact once commented you'd have to put an actual new line to start a new command.
It shouldnt ignore } in those cases just to accommodate a scripting way that is pretty awful to begin with.
