It's complicated. I wish my relationship with baseball could be easy and without problems. It's certainly not a marriage, with time committed to watching and enjoying football and basketball, there is no commitment from me towards 'America's pastime".

Don't get me wrong, I love baseball. It's game that you can sit down to watch and relax. Whether you're at home on the couch or taking in the environment at the ballpark, baseball is a comfort sport and allows you to take in the game, socialize and experience so many different things.

The game is also majestic and sweet. From Giancarlo Stanton unleashing on a baseball and hitting it 500-plus feet, Clayton Kershaw's captivating curveball, Billy Hamilton's lightning-quick speed or Mike Trout with the bat or glove. You can always find beauty in the game, at any moment or inning, when baseball is on something magical is happening.

But the game can also hurt. We've seen evolution all around us and some ways in baseball, but the unwritten rules from decades past still cast a dark shadow of the game and their ramifications are felt far too often. So in this series, I'll take a look at the love-hate relationship with baseball and the things that make it great versus the things that make it so tough to love.

Most recently, baseball's unwritten rules about retaliation popped up over the weekend. Days after Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado slid into second base and his cleat hit Dustin Pedroia in the calf and forced his exit, the Boston Red Sox sought vengeance against Machado. Vengeance mind you, for an unintentional act that enough Red Sox players deemed to be a deliberate act worth harm against Machado for.

Red Sox starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez threw three fastballs close to Machado's knees. Machado moved out of the way on all three occasions so no harm came from it, but a serious injury could have happened. A fastball to the kneecap could be a devastating blow for a player and sideline him for a prolonged amount of time, costing him and his team both now and potentially into the future. Sure, in this "what if' scenario he could recover fully, but there's always risk of a career-altering setback when pitchers are throwing a baseball 90-plus miles per hour at a sensitive spot for a hitter.

It shouldn't have happened, especially days after the fact. Sadly, it didn't end there. In the eighth inning as Boston trailed by six runs, Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes hurled a 90 mile per hour fastball at Machado's head.

Let that sink in for a moment as you watch the video. A solid object is being thrown 90 miles per hour at someone's head. All it takes is one moment in time for baseball to have another horrific Ray Chapman incident. Chapman was killed in 1920 just 12 hours after he got drilled in the head with a baseball. It's the only time a player died during an injury sustained during a game in MLB's history.

Yes, MLB helmets are better today than when Chapman played in 1920, but these are still hard objects thrown at a rapid velocity and with a lot of power being thrown at someone's head. Adam Greenberg's MLB career ended far too early when a fastball hit him in the head in his first plate appearance in the major leagues in 2007. He survived, but his hope at a major-league career ended and he dealt with vertigo issues for years after.

These incidents are rare, but in the era when we are increasingly aware of concussions and the long-term effects they have on someone's health, that raises even more concern. A single moment, all created out of a team's hostile feelings and the need to seek out revenge for an unintentional act, could have a lasting impact that no one wants. 

There will one day be another outcome like Greenberg's, or an even more horrifically a young man loses his life just as Chapman did. A player motionless on the ground, trainers rushing to check on him and an eerily quiet stadium in shock and fearful. The uncertainty of what's going on and praying the young man gets up and is able to walk off the field. The lasting image that sticks in the minds of all who watched, followed by the news that the young man's baseball career is in jeopardy and he is hospitalized. 

It's frightening to write or read, but the details of a grim outcome that will sadly come one day, these words must be understood. Because one day, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred will speak to a room full of reporters about how sad it is and appalled Major League Baseball is by someone throwing intentionally at a player and the result that came from it.

But it will be too late and this is what hurts me. Knowing at some point this will happen, because baseball does next to nothing to prevent it from happening in the future. Part of it is baseball's unwritten rules, but MLB's enforcement also screams out the problem.

MLB announced Barnes received a four-game suspension. For a hitter, a four-game suspension is significant. That's four games out of the lineup and if that player is a core part of the team's lineup and fielding, his absence is felt for an extensive amount of time. But for a relief pitcher, a four-game suspension for Barnes means much less to Boston than if a hitter received a multi-game suspension..

At most, a relief pitcher will miss two appearances with a four-game suspension and it could be even one. Given teams carry seven to eight relievers, missing one relief pitcher. Barnes can also appeal the suspension, pushing it back so he can pitch in the next few days before a decision is ultimately made on whether the suspension remains or he could see it reduced to three games.

In addition, Detroit Tigers pitcher Matt Boyd received a fine and no suspension for throwing behind Minnesota Twins third baseman Miguel Sano. Keep in mind, Sano received a one-game suspension when he reacted and pushed back Tigers catcher James McCann when McCann tried to grab hold of him to protect the pitcher that just threw at Sano.

If MLB really wanted to send a message that retaliatory pitches are not acceptable under any circumstances, suspensions need to change dramatically. Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan got it right. A 20-game suspension could serve as the shot across the bow baseball and teams need to realize that throwing at a player's head is unacceptable and against everything baseball stands for. 

Boyd should be suspended as well. Because as much as he will try and explain how he never intended to throw at Sano, it existed. Boyd sought retaliation after his teammate took an errant pitch to the face and left bloodied. He wanted revenge, fortunately with a slower off-speed pitch at Sano's back, and as a result he should have to miss a start.

Emotion is understandable, but we cannot be in a place in baseball where it's acceptable for pitches to retaliate with a weapon and tell hitters they must stand there and take it. Baseball, including the MLB Players Association, owes it to its players to protect them. Baseball's unwritten rules, which come from a time when segregation defined baseball, should not be the parameters for how things are run today. 

There's still so much more baseball can do to make a great, lovable sport even better. A path to fixing so many key issues exists, but right now baseball is far away from it.