When Thunder general manager Sam Presti talks baseball, he sounds like somebody who never really left October 1986 behind.
He was 8 years old then, living about 20 miles from Fenway Park, and he remembers the end of that World Series vividly enough to tell the story years later. “I was with about 10 of my friends in October 1986 the year that … well, we do not need to go into details,” Presti told The Oklahoman years ago. “We were ready to run outside with fireworks in hand to celebrate, and when Ray Knight crossed home plate we just kind of went our separate ways silently for the night.”
That memory belongs to an 8-year-old baseball fan. The broader point lands in 2026 terms, with a World Series that looks a lot like a small-market showcase: Milwaukee vs. Tampa Bay.
If the Brewers aren’t the MLB version of the Thunder, then the Rays are. Presti has ties to both front offices, and the resemblance is hard to miss. Different leagues, different rules, different salary systems - but the same basic survival skill set: draft well, develop well, win the margins, and build a style that fits the hand you’ve been dealt.
The comparison gets even sharper when you line up the core pieces. The Thunder have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Brewers have Jacob Misiorowski. The Rays have Junior Caminero.
Oklahoma City has Mark Daigneault. Milwaukee has Pat Murphy.
Tampa Bay has Kevin Cash. All three organizations have leaned hard into smart scouting, sharp development and front-office efficiency.
Presti’s appreciation for that model is plain. “I'm always rooting for them,” he said in his preseason news conference.
“Everybody has a different hand to play in every sport. I've used this analogy before, the NBA is a poker game.
It's not a chess game where everybody starts with the same pieces at the same time.”
That’s the part that links the Thunder to the Brewers and Rays most cleanly: they all operate in places that don’t automatically win bidding wars or chase splashy free-agent answers. They thrive by building from within and finding edges others overlook.
The Brewers and Rays have taken that to an extreme in baseball. According to spotrac.com, Tampa Bay has the third-lowest payroll in the sport.
Milwaukee spends more than that, but still generally lives below the league average and keeps punching above its financial weight.
The Thunder are built on a different economic track, but the principle is familiar. They spend when the time is right and keep room to maneuver when it isn’t. After signing Cason Wallace to a long-term extension, Oklahoma City projects to have a top-five payroll next season.
Presti has made clear he sees the common thread. “I think the key is figuring out what you do well and what you have access to and leaning into that and owning that,” he said.
He pointed to the way the Brewers and Rays have pushed their sports forward because of necessity. “I think both (the Brewers and Rays) have been on the front end of a lot of different things - like a lot of the technology with player development relative to what the Rays have done. And a lot of their limitations have led to advancements in their game, in their sport, because they had to figure out different ways to do things.”
He’s talking about the Thunder, too. “I think the expanded rotations and things like that that we were doing five years ago, playing people out of position, we're just trying to learn as much as we can as we're competing so we can get better and lean into some of our advantages,” Presti said.
The results have lined up. Oklahoma City has led the NBA in wins for two straight years.
Milwaukee has done the same in the National League. Tampa Bay was the best team in the American League this season.
Set aside the TV numbers and the big-market gloss - this is a World Series built around two of the smartest organizations in baseball.
For Presti, that probably lands somewhere between nostalgia and admiration. He grew up with baseball on the brain, watching players like Wade Boggs, Tim Raines and later Ken Griffey Jr.
He remembers the Tommy Herr, Ozzie Smith combination from the 1985 World Series. “And the year before that was Padres-Tigers.
That totally sold me,” he said.
The Brewers are back in the World Series for the first time since 1982, and the Rays have put themselves there through the same kind of organizational ingenuity that has helped define the Thunder. There’s one major difference, though, and it matters.
Oklahoma City already has a championship.
That’s going to change.
In Other News...
Thunder Face An Early Test As Fans Await Key Lineup Answers
After opening the season with a win over the San Antonio Spurs, the Thunder are back at Paycom Center on Thursday night for an early measuring-stick game against Denver. It brings a different level of attention than a typical October home date, especially with the Nuggets set to play their first game of the season and the matchup carrying the feel of an early West preview.
Oklahoma City still has a few lineup questions to sort through before tipoff, with multiple rotation pieces unavailable and one more player listed as questionable. Denver has its own absence to manage as well, which makes the final injury report worth watching once the teams get closer to the 8:30 p.m. CT start on ESPN. For a Thunder group trying to build momentum right away, the answers around availability may matter nearly as much as the opponent itself. [Read more 🡒]
Nuggets Opener Has An Unexpected Subplot Tied To The Thunder
The Nuggets season opener against Oklahoma City already had a familiar Western Conference edge to it, and now it carries a little extra intrigue because of a roster move tied back to the Thunder. Denver listed Spencer Jones as questionable because of bilateral hamstring injury management, while guard Julian Strawther has been ruled out with a left knee sprain. On the other side, Oklahoma City enters the game without Otega Oweh, Thomas Sorber and Nikola Topic, all still working back from surgeries.
Jones is the name worth watching because his path to Denver came through Oklahoma City this offseason, when the Thunders interest helped shape the matchup in a way that still lingers into opening night. Even with both teams already juggling injuries before the first tip, the status of a player with that kind of recent connection gives this one a little more subplot than your usual October opener, especially if Denver has to sort out its wing rotation without him. [Read more 🡒]
Aday Mara Faces A Brutal Thunder Test In Home Opener
Aday Maras home opener is bringing a quick step up in difficulty. The Thunder rookie already flashed some defensive promise in his previous game against Victor Wembanyama, and now he is staring at a Denver front led by Nikola Jokic, a test that will tell the Thunder plenty about where the young big man stands early in the season.
What makes the matchup harder to read is the playing time piece. Maras last outing included a useful stretch in limited minutes, but it is not clear how much run he will get against the Nuggets, especially if the game script does not force Oklahoma City to lean on him as much. For a rookie still carving out his role, the challenge is as much about opportunity as it is about the opponent. [Read more 🡒]