Ohtani & Ragans Rule the NC: Two Aces, Two Paths, One Dominant Year

By Sammy Linedriv

TABL Diamond Dispatch – Special Awards Edition

Folks, every now and then a season comes along that gives us not one, but two stories you’ll be telling your grandkids about. And this year in the TABL National Conference, we get exactly that.

Two players—one a global superstar whose legend grows by the week, the other a quiet southpaw who let his left arm do all the talking—stood taller than the rest.

Shohei Ohtani, the San Diego Friars’ electrifying megastar, and Cole Ragans, the Chicago Black Steers’ strikeout machine, were officially crowned the 2025 NC Player of the Year and 2025 NC Pitcher of the Year, respectively.

And boy, did they earn it.

⚡ Shohei Ohtani: The Meteor Who Never Stops Rising

When the season opened without Ohtani toeing the rubber, folks wondered:

Would he still be the same superstar at the plate?

Well, my friends… he somehow got even better.

He didn’t just fill up the box score, he controlled tempo, changed games, and turned every Friars broadcast into must-see baseball.

He claimed six of nine first-place votes, finishing with 61 points, comfortably ahead of Cleveland’s Bobby Witt Jr. (48) and Miami’s José Ramírez (35).

Ohtani wasn’t just great.

He was inevitable.

A once-in-a-century player doing once-in-a-century things.

🔥 Cole Ragans: A Star is Forged in Chicago

Now take a journey 2,000 miles northeast to Chicago, where Cole Ragans quietly stitched together a season that left hitters shaking their heads and muttering to themselves.

He didn’t lead the league in wins.

He didn’t lead the league in innings.

What he did lead TABL in was fear.

Ragans grabbed eight of nine first-place votes, finishing with a commanding 69 points, well ahead of Boston ace Corbin Burnes and Pittsburgh’s ageless wonder Charlie Morton.

In a league full of fireballers and big names,

Ragans was the one pitcher who didn’t blink.

Didn’t flinch.

Didn’t break.

He simply dominated.

🌟 Two Champions, One Message

The National Conference was loaded this year, stacked with hitters who could flatten a baseball and pitchers who could bend physics. Yet when the dust settled, it was clear:

Shohei Ohtani and Cole Ragans weren’t just the best at their positions. They were the best in the league.

Ohtani dazzled. Ragans overpowered. Two paths, two styles, one shared truth:

Greatness doesn’t need an introduction—just the right season to shine.

Congratulations to both champions. TABL is better because they play in it.