U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and 16 others, representing states that would lose affiliated minor league baseball teams, co-sponsored a bipartisan resolution Thursday urging Major League Baseball to scrap a plan to cut ties with 42 teams, including the Norwich Sea Unicorns.

Blumenthal announced plans for the resolution during a news conference in Norwich last week. The resolution is identical to one introduced by a bipartisan group of House members, including U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District.

“Our resolution sends a sharp signal to Major League Baseball,” Blumenthal said in a news release, “shuttering minor league teams like the Sea Unicorns is unacceptable. Communities depend on such teams for jobs and small business vitality. Young fans learn there to love and play America’s pastime. MLB is putting finances above fans. If MLB moves ahead with this shortsighted misguided plan, our resolution signals there will be consequences.”

The proposal, which would take effect at the end of the 2020 baseball season as part of a new player development agreement between Major League Baseball and the minor league, calls for eliminating major league affiliations of 42 teams and cutting the annual amateur baseball draft that feeds players to teams from 40 rounds to 20 rounds. The Sea Unicorns and other teams would be invited to become lower-level independent teams with undrafted players hoping to catch the eyes of major league teams’ scouts.

Critics say the so-called Dream League would be untenable financially and wouldn’t draw fan interest.

The resolution calls for the Senate to support preservation of all current 160 affiliated minor league teams and notes the “unique social, economic, and historical contributions that Minor League Baseball has made to the lives and culture of the people of the United States.”

The resolution co-sponsors include three Democratic presidential candidates: Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont; Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

c.bessette@theday.com