Rangers second baseman Semien will miss the remainder of the regular season due to a left foot fracture.

Even the "Iron Man" streaks must eventually come to an end. The Rangers' "Iron Man," Marcus Semien, was placed on the injured list today because of a foot injury. After consulting several specialists, the All-Star second baseman was diagnosed with a fracture in the third metatarsal of his left foot. He also suffered a sprain to the tarsometatarsal joint ligaments in his foot.

Semien stated today that his usual recovery time is about 4 to 6 weeks, and unless the team embarks on a deep postseason run, his season is effectively over. He believes surgery is not necessary at this time.

"Hopefully, we can get back into the race and see where we stand then," Semien said. "I’ll be watching the games from here for a while. The tarsometatarsal joint is our biggest concern, and we’re just trying to keep it intact through rest. If you tear it, it could take a year to heal. I just want to keep it stable so the other fracture can mend."

During the August 21 loss to Kansas City, Semien hit a foul ball off his own foot in the first inning. He initially stayed in the game, struck out during that at-bat, and continued to play defense in the bottom of the inning. In the third inning, during his second at-bat, Ezequiel Duran pinch-hit for him.

"Every step I took felt like stepping on a knife," Semien said after the game that day. "I couldn’t walk. I was putting the team at risk."

After that game, Semien initially underwent X-rays on Friday, followed by an MRI and CT scan on Saturday. Those tests were inconclusive, so he visited another foot specialist today, whose examination confirmed the fracture and ligament sprain.

The 34-year-old Semien last played fewer than 159 games in a full season in 2017, when he was with the Athletics (playing 85 games due to a right wrist contusion). That was the only time in his career he was placed on the injured list.

Since the start of the 2018 season, Semien leads the major leagues with 1,145 games played and 5,139 plate appearances. During this period, no other player has come within 200 plate appearances of his total.

When he was placed on the injured list on Friday, since the beginning of the 2022 season—his first year in Texas—Semien had appeared in 609 of 616 games for the Rangers, ranking second among all major league players in starts during that span (613 starts by Matt Olson of the Atlanta Braves).

"This is definitely a new experience for me," Semien said. "I haven’t been on the injured list in a long time. But it takes some time. So I think all I can do is watch the games and help my teammates as much as I can."