The Phillies decided to go with a six-man rotation, at least temporarily:

Thomson said he isn’t sure how long he is going to use the six-man rotation.

“Once for sure and then we’ve got some other ideas how to attack this thing as we move forward,” he said.

Philadelphia starters lead the majors with 687? innings pitched. Sánchez is up to 150? innings, and Wheeler is at 144?.

“Just getting some of these guys some extra rest ’cause we’ve been grinding on them pretty hard all year,” Thomson said before the opener of a four-game set against the Nationals. “The one downside to it is you’ve got to take somebody out of your bullpen, so you’re a little short there but we’ll just have to figure it out.”

ESPN.com

Unless a six-man rotation will allow starters to go deep in games, I don’t see the point. The third time through the order problem will exist no matter how much rest pitchers receive.

The Phillies starters are good enough to get through that third time, but it does seem to have tired them lately. This sounds like a team that will occasionally insert another starter to give everyone an extra day of rest, rather than a new strategy.