The Mariners shifted their starting rotation and decided not to follow through with the planned piggyback outing with Logan Gilbert and Emerson Hancock on Saturday.
The Seattle Mariners changed up the format of the starting rotation several times over the course of the season.
The Mariners started the year with Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryan Woo, Emerson Hancock and Luis Castillo on the rotation. Bryce Miller began the year on the injured list.
In the midst of a career-best season from Hancock, Seattle opted to keep all six hurlers on the rotation after Miller was activated from the IL.
The Mariners have gone back-and-forth between a six-man rotation and a piggyback outing every fifth day. To this point, the two pitchers who've piggybacked off one another have been Miller and Castillo.
This month, Seattle made the decision to have every starter on the rotation rotate in through a piggyback outing every fifth day. Ahead of the second of a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday, Gilbert was set to start with Hancock piggybacking off him.
Instead, the Mariners chose to have Gilbert get a true start Saturday with Hancock starting the series finale Sunday.
Per pregame comments made by Seattle manager Dan Wilson, the decision was to give every starter an extra day of rest. According to a post on "X" from Seattle Times reporter Ryan Divish, the Mariners have not completely abandoned the piggyback plan yet.
According to an earlier report in the day from Adam Jude of the Seattle Times, the team didn't want to "disrupt the rhythm" Gilbert has been in of late.
It's very possible and potentially likely that both reports represent the view within the organization.
In four starts this month, Gilbert has a 2.19 ERA and has struck out 31 hitters in 24.2 innings pitched. He has four quality starts in his last five outings and three in a row. He's fanned eight-or-more batters in three of his last four starts.
For the season, Gilbert has a 3.29 ERA and has struck out 100 hitters in 93 innings of work across 16 starts. He's just a tick away from matching or maintaining his single-season career-best ERA of 3.23, which he had in 2024, which also coincided with his only career All-Star selection.
If Gilbert continues at his current pace, there's a chance he could find his way to the Midsummer Classic for the second time in his career. In addition to being on the cusp of a second All-Star appearance, he's also 16 strikeouts away from reaching 1,000 for his career.
Gilbert will have a chance to get closer to both those goals in game two against the Guardians at 4:10 p.m. PT on Saturday.
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