James I agree would likely make sense given that Jessie likely will be low priority rival wise for Ash compared to Hau, Gladion, Guzma, etc. Granted we never got that battle between him and Ilima either. If Jessie gets to use Mimikyu against Ash then it's a sure deal she'll win, but it looks like Ash's lineup is pretty full already.
I do root for James a little, as many have mentioned, he never really gets much compared to Jessie and Mareanie has been sidelined a fair deal, but yeah, if Mallow and Kiawe can't make it, their favourite jobber realistically won't either.
Lillie and Gladion seems an easy decision, unless Gladion lets Lillie win or something, which would be an interesting twist.
The other battles can go either way. While they have put some credibility to Kiawe and even a small bit to Sophocles recently, we haven't seen anything from Mina or Acerola before, and being weird harmless looking characters, they could easily pull a wild card on us. This series loves underdogs or characters that are easy to underestimate.