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CLEVELAND - A main characteristic of 21st century sports is a volume of statistics and factoids so enormous that it requires the mind-numbing gymnastics of parsing what matters and what ridiculously does not.Game 1 will be the first time the Cleveland Indians have hosted a World Series opener in their 116-year history ... The Cubs are 8-1 when scoring first on days ending with y ... Terry Francona owns a 66-10 record as manager when he leans 7 degrees to his left, when both starting pitchers are right-handed, but only 44-20 when he leans to his right. To the surprise of no one paying attention during ninth-grade physics, it only stands to reason that a ball hit hard enough to travel 385 feet for a home run would travel faster than the speed with which it was pitched, yet exit velocity is a thing.There then, within this framework of numbers and history both meaningful and ephemeral, sat Dexter Fowler, the 30-year old Chicago Cubs outfielder, born in 1986, 41 years after the Cubs were last in the World Series, laughing that his parents werent born in 1945 when the Cubs lost to the Tigers, and his grandparents were really, really young. As the Chicago leadoff hitter, Fowler was enjoying his expected place in history when he steps into the batters box Tuesday night as the first African-American to take the field for the Cubs in a World Series game in their 140-year history. But nevertheless, like most of the people asking him questions, he was unable to say for certain whether his place in history is significant or simply cool.The cool factors are apparent. As much as baseball has an industry-wide complex about the NFL, the lineage of the game, its ability to reach back and tie history together is baseballs power; its magic lines of dead ball eras and integration link families as much as history. That baseball, football, basketball, the military and hundreds of school districts were segregated and World War II had ended only 38 days earlier is a social studies class by itself. That the Cubs still play in the same ballpark where they lost 9-3 in Game 7 to Hal Newhouser on Oct. 10, 1945 certainly qualifies as cool.Through the innocence of Fowlers smile, happy and proud to be a pioneer -- a word he mentioned more than a dozen times Monday -- the cruelty of the game was also obvious: Ernie Banks, the greatest of the Cubs, never played in the Series. Banks was 14 years old in 1945, died in 2015, and never got to see any Cub of any stripe, black or white, play in the Series once he joined the organization. Neither did Buck ONeil, who was the first black scout in major league baseball history. ONeil was hired by, yes, the Cubs, in 1961. Leon Durham could have been first, but in 1984 the Cubs -- oh, never mind. Dusty Bakers 2003 team had its shot, too. The picture is clear. The game creates its own river of time.Yet Fowler stepping to the plate Tuesday night does not only represent celebratory trivia, a chance to remind ourselves that Velcro did not exist in 1945. There is more than a cool factor to his presence. It matters because this is a broken and heartbroken country, fractured by the rhetoric of the bitterest election cycle most Americans have ever witnessed, where African-Americans have been essentially told to shut up about racial conditions. Yet there are still so many basic things that black people have yet to experience. Fowlers groundbreaking moment will be more a result of mediocrity than racism. And on scale, a black person playing baseball in a Cubs uniform is at its core a first-world problem. Nevertheless, its part of a list that has never happened before. And it matters.It matters because of the impatience and rage of so much of the white public, so often offended by the mere mention of a racial component in American culture. The white response to the black request -- no, the demand -- for equality has been to insist that the existence of these historical barriers is merely coincidental and not designed. The Red Sox, Phillies, Cardinals, Yankees, Braves, As, Tigers and Twins, all of which, in one city or another, have been around since at least 1901, have never had a black manager. And the Dodgers, established in 1884, hired its first in 2016. The insistence of fairness and the nonexistence of racism is loud and hostile and whites feel aggrieved, yet in addition to those eight teams, four more -- the Diamondbacks, Padres, Angels and Marlins -- have also never hired a black manager. As tired as people may be of hearing about race, African-Americans are equally tired of talking about it, but the facts cannot be shouted away: 12 of 30 teams have never lifted the barrier.It matters because baseball is not only talking about its past through Fowler but tacitly, its future. Fowler was once accepted to attend Harvard but chose to play baseball, an interesting intersection in a sport that has, through its demand of Ivy League credentials as the pathway to the front office, virtually guaranteed a racial disparity in hiring. Only in baseball, with its winnowing of black participation, is it entirely possible for the Cubs to make the World Series five years from now, and the group of Fowler, Carl Edwards Jr., Jason Heyward and Addison Russell to still have been the only blacks on a Cubs World Series roster.It matters because Fowlers pride of being a nice answer to a trivia question has often been met by a white response not of shared pride but of telling African-Americans to not make such a big deal out of everything, even as the black presence is being erased in the game. That Dexter Fowler, in 2016, refers to himself as a pioneer speaks to a different truth. While baseball celebrates a cool linkage of the past and present with the Cubs, it also knows the underbelly of the celebration is quite serious -- a permanent seat at the table for African-Americans in baseball has never felt less secure. Custom Tim Hardaway Jersey . 10 Texas Rangers jersey for one last time. 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Organizers poked a little fun at the now-infamous opening ceremony gaffe that saw only four out of five snowflakes open up into rings, leaving the Olympics logo one ring short. Whether its competing as a mixed martial artist in Bellators heavyweight division or defending the TNA world championship in pro wrestling, Bobby Lashley has made it look easy as he late shifts between his two passions.Lashley (14-2), 40, will make his return to the cage on Oct. 21 when he puts his seven-fight win streak on the line against Josh Appelt at Bellator 162 in Memphis, Tennessee. But before then, he enters an important pay-per-view card on Sunday with TNA Impact Wrestling, when he headlines Bound For Glory against Ethan Carter III in Orlando.At least that seems to be the plan at the moment.With TNA undergoing financial issues amidst an impending sale, theres some speculation the card may not come off at all -- an issue president Billy Corgan addressed Thursday on The Dan Le Batard Show.Lashley is ready to go regardless, and caught up with ESPN.com to talk about TNA and his own future in the squared circle.ESPN: Whats the hardest part about juggling a pro wrestling and MMA career simultaneously?Bobby Lashley: Obviously, the hardest part is having two promoters that are willing to work with me and work with each other. And I have that. So its not as hard as someone would think, because my schedule with TNA is very light because we usually film five or six shows in one week and then we are off for a month and a half. With everyone else, they are having to go work a full-time job, so its a little harder for them than it is for me. I have all day to work [on MMA training]. So I have a really good schedule for me.ESPN: As you prepare for Sundays PPV, how difficult has it been as a performer knowing the uncertainty regarding TNAs future?BL: For me, I just kind of shut things down. Im not one to read all of the dirt sheets so I have no idea. I went to check online to make sure my plane ticket was still good, and it was, so thats all I know at this point. As far as I know, Im supposed to be doing a match Sunday and if anything changes up until then, its no big deal. If anything changes, Im still training for my fight [at Bellator 162]. I have training people lined up for me in Orlando for when I go. I have my boxing coach who is coming with me and I have a few people I am looking into sparring down there so I already put the heads up to those guys that if things dont work out, Ill just switch gears and drive down to Coconut Creek and Ill go to [American Top Team] and do some work down there. So its not really a big deal to me. I want to be wrestling and I want TNA to stay alive because it has been a great program for me up to this point.ESPN: How would you describe what new president Billy Corgan has brought to TNA?BL: He brings a fresh outlook. Hes just another person to talk to. Billy is a cool guy. He is an open ear, thats one thing. When different people come into your organization, especially what weve been going through, you get kind of worried that somebody is going to push their way in and change everything. He hasnt really done that. He has been really open and has been a huge person to talk to. One thing he always says is, My door is open and here is my personal number so just give me a call. Thats one thing that has been really cool. Because at the end of the day, no one is going to tell us how to do our jobs better than we already know.ESPN: In what ways are you different now as TNA champion than you were one decade ago with WWE?BL: Im a beast now. I have fun with it and I get it. They always say in wrestling that most people dont get it and thats the biggest problem that they have had in wrestling. And when I was in WWE, I didnt get it. I had no idea what I was doing. I was just a pawn in the game. I was put in different positions and just tried to be the best I could be in each of those positions. I had no idea what was going on. I didnt know that then. I know it now because of everything that has changed. Now, I go out there and its real to me. Thats how I bring my character and I think the fans understand that a lot more. They know whats going on.ESPN: How has the portrayal of your pro wrestling character changed since you transitioned into MMA?BL: I think it helps because we are in that transition of reality and right now everything is so up front. So just having an opportunity to fight [in MMA] and then going back [to wrestling] and saying, Look, Im not just a character anymore. So the things that I am saying have a lot of truth and thats what I try to bring in. Im not out there just lying the entire time saying Im tough or this and that. And thats a hard thing to do because we are not actors. We do a bit of acting on TV but we are not actors so we cant go out there and lie and have other people believe it also. So the things that Im saying and the things that Im doing are kind of a shoot most of the time. And thats what Im trying to bring to TNA because Im trying to make it a little different.ESPN: What was your reaction to CM Punks recent UFC debut?BL: I understand what he was trying to do, I just dont know exactly if he was prepared for it.dddddddddddd I take my hat off to him for going out there but CM Punk really didnt come from an athletic and competitive background like myself. It was kind of a different situation.ESPN: TNA has made plenty of noise in 2016 with the Matt Hardy-inspired Final Deletion segments. Do you ever envision yourself joining that universe for the right storyline?BL: Oh yeah, oh yeah. I cant wait. That was something that was put together all by Matt Hardy and his brother Jeff and they were allowed to do it. Thats something we have never been allowed to do like that. Thats why I think my character has come so far because I feel comfortable going out there. Thats what everybody has been doing. We go out there with a different kind of swag because we are comfortable. We say what we want and we can do whatever we want. Of course, they pull back on the reins if they have to. One of the best things Ive ever been told is that its better for someone to tell you to slow down than to speed up. Right now, Im not slowing down.ESPN: How many years do you believe you have left in both careers?BL: Fighting, I would say two, maybe three. And its not because my body is not holding up because my body is feeling great. I would say its more because my kids are young. Im a full-time single father so I would like to spend a little bit more time with my kids. When I train for fights my kids understand and they have my back. They are there with me. I want to get to a time when I can focus on them a little bit more. As far as wrestling, it just depends on who I am wrestling for and when Im wrestling. If Im wrestling for TNA and we have kind of the same schedule, s---, I can do that for 10 more years.ESPN: How much does your desire to be a devoted family man cancel the possibility of you one day returning to WWE, considering their demanding schedule?BL: It does to a certain extent. It would have to be the right deal if it was. I dont know if there is even an opportunity. There are certain people in the business who may not want you there and thats why I left the first time. I dont know if there is even a possibility of going back but their schedule is challenging. A lot of their guys are dealing with that. If I were to go back full-time, it would have to be something we sit down and really piece together and make it make sense. I would hate to say yes Im doing it and get back and then its, Oh no. Boo-hoo. What about my kids? I dont want to have a bad attitude. So I would have to really sit down and say this is what we can do.ESPN: Former WWE star Ryback was reportedly in talks with Bellator MMA, although nothing has been agreed to. Considering most fans would look to you as a natural opponent, whats your reaction?BL: Fighting is about money, as we see with Conor [McGregor] getting a [UFC] title shot at 155, bypassing everybody else. There is a fight business aspect of all of this also. I think right now, I dont even know that a commission would allow a guy with 15 fights against somebody with no fights. I dont know if it could happen. But, if its something that they wanted to do, it would be something that we could talk about. But I wouldnt by any means try to call the guy out and I dont know if hes just doing it right now because he just left WWE and is trying to keep his name out. Something like that might be the case. I dont know what his motivation is and I dont know Ryback so close like that so I really dont know. So if he wants to do it I would say by all means get in here and do it. But if hes not serious about it, dont go out there and do it half-assed.ESPN: Do you believe that Bound For Glory will happen on Sunday and that TNA will continue as a brand?BL: Yes, because one thing people dont understand is that [current owner] Dixie [Carter] is not broke. She was never close to being broke. Her parents are billionaires so its not like they dont have the money. They are just trying to make the right deal and thats what we have known all along. I think its just one of those deals where this is business and its going to happen every year. For at least the past five or six years that I have known, around that end of the year point theres always this, Oh no, is TNA going to be sold? Is TNA going here? Is TNA going there? And then next thing you know, bam, everything is fine and then we run again. And then the next year its the same question. I dont know why its the same deal every year and it gets to that point. I think right now they are just trying to make the right deals with the right people. I know a lot of people have their hands in the pot and a lot of people are trying to pitch different things. Whenever the deal is done, its done. ' ' '