The topic was having the mindset it takes to play virtually every game in a Major League Baseball season.

San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado’s initial, simple contribution to the conversation:

“This is who I am.”

It is who he had been.

And while it could in a way be argued it was who he was most of all during the past two seasons, as he played through the pain in his elbow that caused one season to start poorly after the previous one ended painfully, he is definitely that guy again.

And, with Machado celebrating his 33rd birthday today, it is perhaps more impressive than ever.

Machado in 2023 and ’24 started fewer games in the field than in any two-year stretch of his career, excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. But now he is back to standing and diving and running around at third base almost every game while doing all that is required of him at a high level.

Machado is the only player on the Padres to have started every game this season — 79 at third base and eight as the designated hitter.

He is one of seven MLB players, not including those whose primary role is DH, to have started every game. He is older than all but four other players who have started at least 79 games in the field.

“I haven’t even noticed, honestly,” Machado said when asked the significance of being in the lineup every day this season. “It’s just how I’m built. Just go out there and grind. Just play. I love this game. That’s all I know how to do. So anytime I can go out there and put on the uniform and try to get a hit — right now, I’m not getting many hits, but that’s the fun part about it, the grind and the work you put into it.”

Machado, who joined the Padres as a free agent in 2019, is batting .292 with an .834 OPS. He leads the Padres with 51 RBIs and 21 doubles and is second with 14 homers.

Wednesday, he was named the starting third baseman on the National League All-Star team. It’ll be his seventh All-Star Game appearance.

Machado is two hits away from becoming the 268th player in major league history to reach 2,000 hits. He got 73 hits while playing 66 games for the Dodgers in 2018.

Last month, he became the 103rd player to reach 350 home runs and is now one of 94 players with 355.

Machado will become the 12th player to reach 2,000 hits and 350 home runs by his age-32 season. Of the 11 men who have done it, eight are in the Hall of Fame. Two more will be in Cooperstown when they become eligible. And Alex Rodriguez almost certainly would have been had he not been linked to PED use.

As he approaches this milestone, one that signifies he is on a Hall of Fame track, there has been a natural focus on Machado’s ability to hit.

But perhaps an overlooked ability that has enabled him to reach these monumental marks this early in his career is his durability.

Machado debuted in the big leagues with the Baltimore Orioles on Aug. 9, 2012, 34 days after his 20th birthday. So it helps he started early.

But after playing 156 games in 2013, he underwent surgery (a medial patellofemoral ligament repair) on his right knee at the end of that season, began the ’14 season late because of it and then had the same surgery on his left knee in August of that year.

There could be at that point no way to predict he would start more games in the field than any other player in the major leagues from 2015 through 2022.

But that is what Machado did.

In the ’22 season he missed nine games (without going on the injured list) after suffering a tear in his left ankle in mid-June. He struggled at the plate for about a month before essentially carrying the Padres into the postseason by hitting .313 with a .952 OPS in the season’s last 55 games.

Machado’s streak of avoiding the injured list ended after eight years, when a pitch fractured a bone in his left hand in May of 2023. He missed just 14 games but by midseason was dealing with what turned out to be a tear in his right elbow extensor tendon. He could play no more than a few days in a row by mid-September, at which point he had been exclusively serving as the DH for a few weeks.

He had surgery in October and, while still recovering, served solely as the Padres’ DH the first 30 games of 2024. The discomfort in his elbow continued into mid-June, and he said he was never 100% until the offseason. But after one of the worst starts to his career, Machado hit .298 with a .904 OPS over the season’s final 83 games and was again one of the biggest reasons the Padres made the postseason.

He started all but one game in that closing span and played third base in 57 of his final 63 starts.

“Looking at him now and then looking back at last year and realizing what the hell he grinded through to play as much as he did last year, that was awesome,” Padres third base coach and infield coach Tim Leiper said. “And with no bitching and complaining. He willed himself out there last year. It’s so admirable to watch guys go out and grind every single day and to be in the lineup and do what it takes to get out there. That’s so understated with him. He doesn’t want to make a big deal of it, because it’s just the way he was brought up. But it’s admirable, it makes your team better. It’s just impressive. And it’s kind of a lost art in the game.”

This season, Machado is on pace to start 147 games in the field, something he has not done since starting 154 between shortstop and third base in 2019, his first season with the Padres.

He hasn’t given much thought to that total or the idea he could start 162 games this season. He’d rather not.

“I don’t really care,” he said. “I don’t even think it’s worth it. I’d rather be healthy for the postseason at that point. If we’re fighting towards the end, I’m gonna have to do it. So hopefully we can put ourselves in a good situation where I can take a few days before that.”

Machado has for years dodged questions about the specifics of his rest and recovery routine, though it is known to involve not only extensive work with the Padres medical staff but his own expensive equipment and people he employs to help him at home.

“It’s a mentality,” manager Mike Shildt said. “Manny has a mentality that says ‘I can play, and I’m going to take care of myself, and I’ve learned how to take care of myself to go play.’ ”

Machado said “there will be a time” to appreciate what he has done. For now, he doesn’t look back. But he is willing to look forward.

He is one of — at most — three active players with a chance to reach 3,000 hits.

The Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman, who will turn 36 in September, leads all active players with 2,356 hits. The Astros’ Jose Altuve, who turned 35 in May, is right behind him at 2,321.

Many believe the way the game is going — with the seemingly irreversible trend of hitting becoming more difficult as pitchers throw harder and spin more — that no one will ever become the 34th man with 3,000 hits.

Machado aims to find out if that next 1,000 is possible.

“I mean, that’s the goal,” he said. “Yeah, for sure.”