NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Baby Cakes, the city’s Triple-A minor league baseball team, will move to Wichita, Kansas.

The Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District and Wichita mayor Jeff Longwell announced Thursday that the team has filed a relocation application with Minor League Baseball and the Pacific Coast League.
The move will not take place until after the 2019 season at the earliest. The Baby Cakes’ lease at New Orleans’ Shrine on Airline field runs through the 2021 season.

Wichita is building a $73 million riverfront stadium and entertainment district. Wichita has not had an MLB-affiliated team since the Wichita Wranglers, a Double-A team, left in 2006.

The New Orleans Advocate reported that a group of investors is interested in purchasing a team in the Double-A Southern League and relocating it to New Orleans.

The Baby Cakes, formerly known as the Zephyrs, moved to New Orleans from Denver in 1993. The team’s name was changed in 2016.

The Baby Cakes are currently the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins, but have also been the top farm club of four other MLB teams during their time in New Orleans.