The Detroit Tigers' Game 37 was a night to forget—a 10-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox that turned into a full-blown circus at the ballpark. Let's break down what went wrong and why this game had everyone talking.

First, the pitching. Framber Valdez, just a day after being anointed the de facto ace of the Tigers' staff, had a nightmare outing. He surrendered 10 runs (seven earned) in a performance that was, by any measure, an absolute debacle. But here's the thing: bad nights happen in baseball. Every pitcher has them. What made this one different was what happened next.

After serving up back-to-back moon-shot home runs to Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu to lead off the fourth inning, Valdez followed up by drilling Trevor Story square in the back with a 94-mph fastball. On the very next pitch. Story, understandably, was not happy about how that particular story unfolded—he said as much—and the benches cleared. The umpires wasted no time ejecting Valdez.

Now, only Valdez knows if it was intentional, but we're all entitled to our opinions. And my opinion takes into account that this is a guy who, eight months ago, got so hot after giving up a home run that he purposely crossed up his own catcher. After this plunking, Valdez barely flinched. Catcher Dillon Dingler's head dropped. Manager AJ Hinch didn't seem to contest the ejection much. The whole scene was one big shrugging emoji.

Oddly, one of the most upset people in the ballpark seemed to be Detroit SportsNet analyst Andy Dirks. He was incensed by the ejection, arguing that no warnings had been issued (warnings aren't required, by the way), that it put the Tigers' bullpen in an awful spot (Valdez had already done that just fine on his own), and that the Red Sox were allowed to lobby for Valdez's exit (I'd love to know which Red Sox player lobbied for that—surely, it couldn't have been a hitter).

Dirks eventually let it go, but it was a bizarre hill to die on. (Jason Benetti parroted some of Dirks' beefs, but with less conviction—like a lawyer defending a client he knows is guilty.) Moments like this do nothing to change many fans' perception that this is what you sometimes get when teams take near-total control over their own broadcasts. The transition to the MLB Media umbrella hasn't been smooth for everyone, and nights like this only add fuel to the fire.

For Tigers fans, it's a tough pill to swallow. But as any seasoned baseball fan knows, the season is a marathon, not a sprint. Let's see how they bounce back in Game 38.