Lastly, we've got Grupo Delta's 🔱 #Neptunes, who are perhaps the least predictable team of the #COPMUN1906 field.

Not because they lack for genuine talent: any infield with  Kim, Balk and Su is exceedingly capable, and  Hein and  Kalsakau are great bats to have on your side—if they can put consistent wood on the bat.

That will be necessary, given that some of their most battle-tested pitchers aren't even currently on a major-league roster!

Here's where things get interesting.

To make a square field (4 groups of 4 teams), and in an effort to widen the range of competition, #COPMUN1906 authorities displayed rather surprising foresight and created four regional teams that would allow players without existing national sides to compete.

These four teams, with their rough catchment areas, are listed below:

🇪🇺 #Internationales (Europe)

🔱 #Neptunes (Asia/Oceania)

⛓️‍💥 #Soberanos (Latin America)

👳 #Sultanes (Middle East/Africa)

Grupo Gamma's third team, 🇯🇲 #Jamaica, is another high-upside #COPMUN1906 team with a lot of young, developing players.  Stack and  Rose are a decent, if brittle, top of the rotation, and  Gordon and  Coates are fantastic players, but this team will need heroic appearances from every member of the starting lineup to succeed.

On the other hand, we expect the Scorpions to dominate in the next couple iterations of this tournament.

Still in Grupo Gamma, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #England eventually realized that their Roses pitching staff was full of late-30s junkballers—so they called on the current generation of English talent, full of burly gap hitters and aggressive runners who specialize in turning leadoff doubles into crooked numbers.

 Crampton,  Johns (whose father played for Sheffield until 1904), and  Underwood lead a #COPMUN1906 lineup with the discipline to take long, rewarding at-bats.

Let's head over to Grupo Gamma, which we think we can complete in one go: 🇨🇺 #Cuba, the second-oldest independent baseball power in #COPMUN1906, brings a wealth of all-around talent, from fiery youngsters like Castro, Rosario to wily vets like Pichardo, Jara and López—all good slap bats with excellent baserunning instincts.

Sure, their pitching staff is young and inexperienced, but that's what  Stonehand and Salmerón are doing behind the plate.

¡Al combate corred, bayameses!

Next up, also in Delta, is the only team to carry three full-time catchers into #COPMUN1906: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 #Scotland.

The Unicorns recruited from four leagues and had to reach into the developmental leagues for  Buchanan and McKinnon, which suggests they won't make disproportionate noise—but with steady leadership from veterans like  Reid,  Thompson and  Mackenzie, they've got the backstops and bullpen to put up a strong fight for their group.

Over to Grupo Delta for soon-apparent reasons. We begin with 🇲🇽 #México, whose well-balanced squad includes almost all of the current Mexican league's aces—not to mention quite a few of its better hitters, including a total of six Ilustrísimo awards between Miguel Villanueva and Héctor Sánchez.

The addition of  Balloon and del Castillo would seem like overkill if #COPMUN1906 were a normal, under-the-radar competition, but in this environment they're likely needed for survival.

Staying in Grupo Alfa, here's the 🇩🇴 #DominicanRepublic, which—while an understandably distant third behind the two heavy hitters we've just posted—is proof that by 1906, Caribbean baseball had expanded beyond the Puerto Rican and Cuban sphere.

Plenty of high-potential players on this young #COPMUN1906 squad, including #1 pitcher  Pérez to  prospects Jiménez and Hernández. Whether their performance here impresses or not, their 1910 side should be beyond fearsome.