The 2025 season could feel a lot like the 2009 season for the SF Giants

After the SF Giants signed veteran pitcher Justin Verlander, their team for 2025 is starting to come into focus. It is not crazy to think that the 2025 team could end up being a lot like the 2009 Giants in more ways than one.

For context, the 2008 Giants were 72-90 and finished 4th in the NL West. They did have a bright spot in Tim Lincecum who won the National League Cy Young Award, but outside of that there was not much to be thrilled about.

The Giants overperformed expectations in 2009 largely thanks to contributions from young players like Matt Cain, Lincecum (who took home another Cy Young), and Pablo Sandoval. In many ways that season set the stage for 2010 when the Giants won their first World Series championship since moving to San Francisco.

2025 SF Giants could end up looking like the 2009 Giants

Prior to 2009, the Giants signed the legendary left-handed pitcher Randy Johnson to add to their rotation. It was the final season of the Big Unit's career, and one cannot help but be reminded of Johnson after the Giants signed Verlander.

Verlander will be in Cooperstown one day and no one is expecting him to win another Cy Young Award, but if he can give the Giants roughly 20 starts with an ERA beginning with a 4 or better while also serving as a mentor figure to younger pitchers, then it would be a solid signing.

The Verlander-Johnson connection is not the only similarity. Robbie Ray is roughly similar to Barry Zito in that Ray is also a former Cy Young winner who the Giants are paying a lot of money when it seems like his best days are probably behind him.

There could also possibly be a key similarity when it comes to a younger player. Buster Posey, the top prospect in the Giants organization at the time, made his MLB debut in 2009. He did not do much, recording just two hits in 17 at-bats, but he got his first taste of the big leagues.

Perhaps the current top prospect for the Giants, Bryce Eldridge, could also make his big league debut in 2025. It is probably too much to ask him to make a major impact at the big league level this year, but it could still be valuable if he gets his feet wet maybe towards the end of the year.

The 2009 finished at 88-74, missing out on the playoffs and finishing 3rd in the NL West. If the 2025 Giants replicated that, I think many fans would take it. It would be a solid step forward after three straight seasons of mediocrity.

Of course, fans would love it even more in 2026 ended up being a repeat of the 2010 season but let's just take things one season at a time.