SEATTLE -- On Wednesday afternoon, Seattle Mariners manager Dan Wilson laid out his pitching rotation for the first seven games of the season, which will all be played at T-Mobile Park against playoff teams from a year ago: The Cleveland Guardians and the New York Yankees.

There are no off days in these first seven, meaning the Mariners won't have the ability to manipulate their rotation in the way that some other teams do early in the season.

The Mariners are going with Logan Gilbert on Opening Day with George Kirby to follow. Bryan Woo takes the ball in game three (Saturday) while Emerson Hancock pitches on Sunday. Luis Castillo is pitching on Monday night against the Yankees while Gilbert and Kirby finish out the series.

Upon seeing this rotation, M's fans immediately raised two valid questions: Is Luis Castillo really the No. 5 starter on this team? And why is Woo not in a position to pitch against the Yankees? He's quite possibly the best starter on this team, and he pitched exceptionally well against the Yankees last season.

A possible answer is simple: Rest.

The final game of the Yankees series is April 1. The Mariners have an off-day on April 2 before starting the first trip of the series against the Los Angeles Angels on April 3.

With this scenario, Woo gets an extra day of rest, which could be important considering he's got the biggest injury history of any M's pitcher in the rotation. It might not seem like a lot, but the M's could clearly value giving him any opportunity to get a day here or there, especially early.

As for Castillo, pushing him back to game five could give him a chance to earn some extra rest as well. He's now 33 years old and has made 30 starts or more in four of the last five years. The team could also value the chance to give him some extra time early in the season.

These decisions are not necessarily indictments on either pitcher and are not reflections of poor managing by Dan Wilson. They are very likely calculated decisions.

We asked ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney if we should read too much into early season pitching decisions on the latest 'Refuse to Lose' podcast, and here's what he said:

"No, I really think, and this has become a trend around baseball, that teams are slow playing the use of their starting pitchers, especially early in the year. And this is a strategy that has been popularized in particular by the Dodgers, where you know a Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, they basically tell them, 'hey, go take two months off.'

In recent years, if you look at the statistics with the Dodgers at years, then most of their starting pitchers are winding up in the range of 120, 130, innings. And, and I think part of that, I mean, some of it is legitimate injury, but some of it, I think, is the Dodgers feeling like, look, 'we need to prepare these guys to be ready, especially for the biggest games at the end of the year.' And the Dodgers are certainly good enough where you can make a presumption like that. I think the Mariners, I'm guessing that is part of their thinking is to slow play.

I know Toronto is doing the same thing, sort of slow playing their guys and it's not going to feel right when you face the Yankees and your best pitcher could theoretically be lined up to throw one of those games. But on the other hand, from 30,000 feet, I do think, if in fact that's the reason why the Mariners are doing this, that they are now following a trend that we've seen other great teams take on in recent years."

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