St. Louis Cardinals' Lance Berkman hits an RBI single against the Texas Rangers to tie the game during the tenth inning in Game 6 of MLB's World Series baseball championship in St. Louis, Missouri, October 27, 2011."

According to reports, St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Lance Berkman has torn his ACL and is considering retiring from the game.

Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the injury diagnosis early Monday on Twitter. He said that an MRI later in the day would confirm the tear.

Berkman injured his knee Saturday in the Cardinals' loss to Los Angeles Dodgers when he stretched to field a throw at first base. At the time, he was diagnosed with a sprained right knee and was placed on the 15-day disabled list.


After the injury, Berkman spoke of the possibility of retiring if the injury should prove to be severe. "If I've re-torn my ACL or something like that, I'd certainly get it fixed but you don't know how psychologically you're going to come back from something like that," Berkman told the press, according to the Post-Dispatch. "I'm not talking from the standpoint of being scared of hurting it again. I'm talking about doing everything it takes to come back and play again at an elite level. I think that's a legitimate question I'm going to have to answer if, in fact, it turns out to be something more serious than we hope that it is."

Berkman was a main contributor to the Cardinals last year when he was named NL Comeback Player of the Year. This year however, injuries have forced him to miss a significant amount of time. He has played in only 13 games after suffering a strained calf early in the year. He is batting .333 with a homer and four RBIs.

In Berkman's place, St. Louis called up first base prospect Matt Adams from Triple-A Memphis, who got his first major league hit in his first at-bat Sunday.