This post would be full of Cleveland Indians GIFs, but I don't want a DMCA takedown notice from MLB Advanced Media

Baseball is a great sport. It is a sport full of short, compact moments of extreme action surrounded by a lot of standing around and planning. Basically, it is the perfect sport to be put into GIF form to show off our love of the game, and our love of some of those amazing moments. Which makes it extra baffling why MLB Advanced Media appears to, once again, be going after people posting GIFs with takedown notices.

But you know what, we won’t bend. Let’s Go Tribe is here to entertain and inform, and we are going to do it with GIFs, because they're fun, and because we love baseball. With that in mind, let's take a look at some of the Tribe's most impressive plays over the past month in GIF form.

Chisenhall’s two-run bomb

With the Cleveland Indians September 20 game against the Chicago White Sox tied 0-0, right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall opened the door for the Indians with a two-run towering shot to right. Just look at this; the bright sun, the excitement in the crowd. Doesn’t a play like this just make you want to go watch a game and get out to the ballpark?

*in order to avoid a DMCA takedown request, I have replaced the Chisenhall GIF with one of LeBron James dunking over Miami Heat guard Damon Jones. 

Lindor’s diving stop

Francisco Lindor continues to be a dominant force on the Indians defense. In the first inning of this September 17 bout with the Royals, not only did he make a diving stop, but he also threw an 84 MPH rocket to nail a sprinting Eric Hosmer. It’s plays like this that make me want to tell everyone about how great the game of baseball is.

*in order to avoid a DMCA takedown request, I have replaced the Lindor gif with one of Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton front-flipping his way into the endzone. Oh man, could you imagine if you missed this??

The Klubot is back!

Corey Kluber had a rough start in his September 17 outing against the Royals, but the third inning was a thing of beauty. Check out how easily he dealt with Kendrys Morales, Eric Hosmer, and Lorenzo Cain. Baseball isn’t all about offense anymore, you know. It’s a well-rounded game and performances like this make this sport great.

*in order to avoid a DMCA takedown request, I have replaced the Kluber gif with one of Serena Williams winning the 2013 US Open. 

Fan makes a great catch

Look, baseball is about more than millionaires playing a game against each other, it’s about the fans. And in this case, one fan made a great catch to reel in a foul ball hit by Lorenzo Cain. There’s just something about seeing those uniform green seats that make me want to buy an overpriced hot dog and several pieces of baseball-related memorabilia.

*in order to avoid a DMCA takedown request, I have replaced the fan gif with pizza rat. 

Chisenhall shows off his rocket arm

Lonnie Chisenhall has been great defensively since being moved from third base to right field. Here he is back on September 10 showing off his glove against the division rival Detroit Tigers. Just take a look at this one, words can’t do it justice.

*in order to avoid a DMCA takedown request, I have replaced the Chisenhall gif with one of New Jersey Devils’ forward Damien Brunner scoring a goal back in 2013. He does not even play in the NHL anymore.

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Hopefully, you have enjoyed this look at what makes baseball great, including some of its ultra-talented players, its dedicated fans, and the youth taking over the Cleveland Indians. I also hope that I have done my due diligence in avoiding doing any free advertising for Major League Baseball in the form of easily shareable GIFs.

To be fair, MLB Advanced Media has gotten a lot better about getting embeddable video clips out much quicker, but for a lot of users -- especially those on mobile devices-- a quick GIF is a much easier way to view a highlight home run, stolen base, or great defensive play. It is not like every sport is cracking down on fans sharing GIFs, this is solely an MLB problem.

By all means, defend your copyright when it matters and it could harm your brand, Major League Baseball, but all this is doing is hurting your own fans. And going after your fans is never a winning strategy. It's like bunting, but only slightly less bad.