User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 599 - Too Early To Win, Too Late To Know/@comment-4822693-20141004225027/@comment-1338810-20141008124836

"I've always thought that only having 26 sternritters just to have one for every letter, was a pretty ridiculous idea."

It's not that ridiculous. There are only 13 captains in the Gotei 13. With 26 Sternritter, that's a 2-1 advantage for the Wandenreich in theory (barring instances like Zaraki who can kill 3 weaker Sternritter all by himself).