ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — What do you do? Six starting pitchers, five spots in the rotation. What do you do? Three starting pitchers already on pace to set career highs for innings pitched with an entire postseason still ahead. What do you do? Two starting pitchers with five elbow surgeries between them, and a third starter who just took a needle to his elbow. The Rays are sitting in first place ...

Which direction do the Tampa Bay Rays go in the postseason?

Hannah Walls/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — What do you do?

Six starting pitchers, five spots in the rotation.

What do you do?

Three starting pitchers already on pace to set career highs for innings pitched with an entire postseason still ahead.

What do you do?

Two starting pitchers with five elbow surgeries between them, and a third starter who just took a needle to his elbow.

The Rays are sitting in first place with the end of the regular season in sight and their playoff chances somewhere between 99.9% and 100%, depending on which computer model you ask. This is the most enticing Rays roster in several years, and it’s perfectly timed with the rest of the American League stuck at low tide.

But that does not mean there aren’t issues to be resolved. Not problems per se, but questions that need to be addressed.

Specifically, with the starting rotation.

It has been, and will continue to be, the strength of the team. Rays starters have the best WHIP in the American League and the third-best ERA. Despite losing Ryan Pepiot before the season began, and having Steven Matz drop out of the rotation in early June, Rays starters have been remarkably consistent for nearly five months.

And yet, there is a reason team president Erik Neander gave up three prospects to acquire Freddy Peralta at the trade deadline. There are enough concerns about workloads and medical histories that the Rays needed some pitching insurance going into the season’s final stretch.

That means, with Shane McClanahan coming off the injured list on Monday and Griffin Jax expected to make a rehab start at Triple-A Durham on Sunday, the Rays could have six healthy starters by the time September rolls around.

So, what do you do?

Go with a six-man rotation until the postseason begins? That’s a possibility, and it has been discussed. The benefit is the Rays could reduce workloads for all of their starters. And with the rosters expanding by one pitcher on Sept. 1, the bullpen could still be at full strength with an extra starter added.

In real terms, Nick Martinez would potentially make seven more starts between now and the postseason in a five-man rotation. If Tampa Bay goes to a six-man rotation, he would make no more than six starts and could even be reduced to five starts with some calendar manipulation. Considering he is 36 and on pace for career highs in both starts and innings, that’s an appealing thought. Particularly since he might be looking at an additional five starts if the Rays go deep into the postseason.

The downside is starters get accustomed to the routine of a five-man rotation. When the Rays skipped McClanahan’s turn in the rotation to give him a breather in July, he had his worst start of the season in his next outing.

So maybe a six-man rotation isn’t the best answer.

Another possibility is having two starters piggyback in a single game. Since Jax has already thrown 25 more innings than last season and recently had an injection to “calm” his elbow down, he would seem to be a good candidate for that role. And since Ian Seymour is accustomed to pitching in a bulk role, he would also be an obvious candidate.

The Rays could go into that day’s game with Jax slated to throw the first three to four innings and Seymour following with a similar workload.

There’s another benefit to that plan. If Peralta continues to show improvement, like his last two starts, he would conceivably be the No. 4 starter in the postseason behind Drew Rasmussen, Martinez and McClanahan. That would likely mean Jax and Seymour could transition to multi-inning roles in the bullpen for the playoffs.

And, as far as concerns about workloads for Rasmussen, Martinez and McClanahan, the Rays could simply shorten some of their outings in the coming weeks, particularly if they’ve still got a comfortable lead on the Yankees in the AL East.

The Rays do not need to make any of these decisions today. They first need to see how Jax responds to the treatment of his elbow in his rehab start at Durham. That means the wheels will likely begin turning around this time next week.

So, what do you do?

You focus on the present and you prepare for the future. You do what’s best for the organization while keeping in mind what’s best for the pitcher. You worry about health, workloads, psyches and the scoreboard.

Mostly, for the Rays, you hope to keep doing what you’ve been doing.

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