Among the several adjustments Cardinals rookie outfielder Lars Nootbaar had to make as he went up, down and up again to the major leagues was that not all October baseball is played in front of more than 50,000 screaming fans — as was the case when the Cardinals played the Dodgers in a wild-card playoff game in Los Angeles.
After the Cardinals lost in walk-off fashion, Nootbaar’s next October baseball was played a few days later in the Arizona Fall League. Crowds weren’t 40,000 or 50,000 anymore. “It was more toward 40 (people),” he said, laughing during a telephone interview.