Why the Cincinnati Reds Should Avoid a Six-Man Rotation in 2026

The Cincinnati Reds have kicked the tires on a six-man starting rotation for 2026. They should put those tires back where they found them.

The Reds have a good amount of talented pitchers who could fill out multiple starting rotations. This is making the debate for who should be the fifth man in the group turn into something more.

A six-man rotation sounds intriguing but would do more damage to the roster, as a whole.

Chase Burns and Rhett Lowder are both talented pitchers who the Reds spent high draft picks on with bright futures ahead. Both can help the Reds win this year. So why not have them BOTH on the roster?

The first reason is because it would fundamentally change the routines of the best Reds players. Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott, Nick Lodolo, and Brady Singer have all built their careers on a certain routine that this plan would demolish.

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Cincinnati Reds pitcher Chase Burns (26) delivers a pitch in the first inning of a Cactus League game between the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Guardians, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Ariz. | Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Looking at this from a league-wide perspective, Mike Petriello cited a Cole Hamels quote about the effect this would have on a pitcher.

“It's not part of baseball,” Hamels said in 2018. “I was brought up in the Minor Leagues on the five-man, and that's what I'm designed and conditioned for.”

Then there’s the bullpen. This would take away one of the arms that Terry Francona would have in a given series. When MLB expanded the active roster to 26 men a few years back, it was with the added bullpen spot in mind. A six-man rotation would negate this.

The biggest argument for having a six-man rotation stems from the idea of limiting the exposure of all of your starting pitchers to injury. It’s never been about making sure you have a ton of talent, but mores about physical health. The biggest problem with this is limiting the effect of your best players on the performance of the team.

A six-man rotation would decrease the amount of starts from each pitcher by five. If all six guys were healthy all season, they would make 27 starts, each. That’s five less games for guys like Greene, Abbott, and Lodolo who all recorded a complete game last season and all factored heavily into the win probability of the Reds.

It’s my belief that there will be plenty of opportunity for Burns, Lowder, Brandon Williamson, and even Julian Aguiar and Chase Petty this season. While not all of them will start 20 games, I can confidently say none of them will start 0 games. The 162-game marathon that is the MLB regular season, coupled with an expanded postseason, demands that more than five different pitchers make starts for your team.

That doesn’t mean a team needs to carry more than five starters on their roster, though, and the Reds should try to test this theory in 2026.

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