Why do my Batch Requests increase when doing a Differential Backup
After monitoring the active sessions and queries during the high activity period, I have come to the conclusion that the third party software we use (LiteSpeed) to perform backups is the culprit.

There seems to be a lot of queries to get information about the maintenance plan, updating backup statistics, getting information about the server and the database, etc. This server is not only the one being backed up at this time but it is also the "Central Repository" for all our servers.

It appears I jumped the gun by posting here but at least this might prevent others from spinning their wheels on something that does not appear to be a real issue or one you can do anything about, other than not using the third party software. If our environment becomes bogged because of this, I would bet moving the "Central Repository" to another server would reduce the load on this one.