Tarik Skubal's final Team USA stunt angered baseball fans and has Tigers fans sad

Tigers fans really want everyone to stop talking about Tarik Skubal and the World Baseball Classic.

It's largely Skubal's fault that this narrative has haunted him over the last month or so. Sure, he got some blowback from his decision to pitch in just a single pool play game, but if he'd just stopped talking after he got off the mound and gone back to Lakeland as planned, maybe all of this would've turned into a distant memory.

There have been far more interesting storylines to come out of the WBC, and a lot of pitchers ended up following suit and going back to their teams; they just didn't make as big a deal about it as Skubal did.

But Skubal waffled, only to land back on his original decision. He talked about how agonizing it was. People around him went on record to share how awful he felt. But no one cared. At the end of the day, he wasn't going to be pitching in the games that really mattered.

He should've just stayed away, but instead he came back to be in the dugout with the rest of Team USA in the semifinals and finals. He, along with the rest of them, donned game-used jerseys sent over by the men's Olympic hockey team and represented Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin.

It made everyone even more upset, and it made Tigers fans even more exasperated. Can't we just look forward to what's probably going to be the last season with Tarik Skubal as our ace?

Tarik Skubal's unwillingness to let go of the WBC is putting a damper on his Tigers walk year

To make matters even worse, Skubal said of the semifinal that he drove through a rainstorm to get to Miami and be with the team. "I just can't miss an opportunity to share a dugout with these guys," he said.

But he'd already chosen to miss that opportunity. Just hanging around but being unavailable to pitch because he chose not to pitch made him look like the kid who does nothing on a group project but feels entitled to celebrate when they get an 'A.' Walking into the clubhouse with a USA hockey jersey, looking like he was prepared to go to battle ... it all rang hollow.

Tigers fans just want to watch Skubal be the best pitcher in baseball. For the Tigers. These next 30 or so starts are, more likely than not, the last we'll see of him in the Old English D.

That is the jersey that really matters to Tigers fans; not Team USA's. Ultimately, Skubal's decision was the right one for himself and his team. Can we just let that be the end of the story?