BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is aggressively opposing a Major League Baseball plan to cut 42 minor league teams across the country after 2020. Among the targeted are the Vermont Lake Monsters, the Single-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics in his hometown, Burlington.

Sanders is defending low-profile ball clubs in far-flung places more fervently than anyone in the crowded Democratic presidential field. And that may allow him to win over baseball fans, who are a largely untapped 2020 constituency. Sanders plans to take batting practice indoors with minor league players Sunday in Burlington, Iowa. He says baseball “is not an institution that is hurting financially.”