On Saturday afternoon, the Seattle Mariners will once again deploy their "piggyback" plan when they play the Arizona Diamondbacks at T-Mobile Park.

Bryce Miller will start while Luis Castillo will come in relief. This will be the third iteration of the piggyback for the M's, with Miller having started two of the games and Castillo starting one.

It's been a difficult needle for the Mariners to thread, and they haven't necessarily handled it well to this point, but they have worked to rectify that over the last few days.

The question that I get often on social media is "Why don't the Mariners just go to a true six-man rotation?" I addressed that and much more on the most recent 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast.

"I'm not a fan of a six-man rotation, and really, there are two reasons why.

One, if you have a six-man rotation, you have fewer starts for Bryan Woo, George Kirby, and Logan Gilbert — your supposed three aces, the three guys you would want on the mound more often. Having a six-man rotation puts them on the mound less often. So that's one reason against the six-man rotation.

The other issue is that the bullpen becomes very, very short when you have a six-man rotation. Because just play it out, right? Whether you like the piggyback or not, it is undeniable that on the days that Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo have piggybacked, the Mariners have needed very little additional bullpen help.

We saw José Ferrer for a third of an inning against the White Sox, and we saw Andrés Muñoz for two-thirds of an inning. On Monday against the A's, we saw nobody else but Castillo and Miller. So the bullpen has largely gotten an off day when those guys have pitched, and that is a benefit for the rest of the bullpen.

If Miller and Castillo both start, let's say Bryce Miller goes six. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. Let's say he goes six. That's at least three more innings that the bullpen has to cover there.

And let's say Luis Castillo goes five. That's at least four more innings that the bullpen has to throw there. And there's now one less guy in the bullpen to cover all of these innings because you have six starters.

So a six-man rotation, to me, is not really the answer."

You can listen to the most recent edition of the 'Refuse To Lose Territory' podcast featuring Foul Territory TV host Scott Braun here, or you can watch the episode on YouTube.

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