Column: When will we know if the Chicago Cubs are for real — or if their hot start is a mirage?

The Chicago Cubs returned to Wrigley Field on Thursday on the heels of a 5-1 West Coast trip, looking very much like a team determined to prove its hot start is not a fluke.

But they flopped in their first game home, losing 6-2 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on James Outman’s ninth-inning grand slam off closer Michael Fulmer.

While it’s easy for fans to get excited about the 11-7 record, how many games will it take for President Jed Hoyer to feel this is who the Cubs really are?

“One (hundred) forty,” Hoyer said with a laugh.

That would be another 122 games, or well into the playoff race in September. By that point the Bears will be back and hogging the spotlight again, as happens in Chicago even if one or both of the baseball teams are contenders.

When Hoyer turned serious, he said the thing that encouraged him most about the start was the fact the team believes in itself and comes into each game prepared to win.

“They come in every day prepared, they’re talking about baseball all the time, there’s real intensity there all the time,” Hoyer said. “The effort level to me I know isn’t going to wane, and that part I’m really excited about.”

Hoyer knows it’s early. He pointed to Jameson Taillon’s groin injury as a potential test of their rotation depth and knows other injuries will crop up over the season. But he likes the “clubhouse culture,” which consists of several players who have experienced a championship season.

“We have a lot of guys on this team that just love playing,” center fielder Cody Bellinger said. “And we’re just a team full of really good baseball players. And it’s shown.”

Bellinger homered and was hit by a pitch twice in the loss. The Cubs entered Thursday’s game with five games scoring 10 runs or more in their first 17, the third time that’s happened since 1901. The offense was second in the majors with a .286 average while the 3.24 ERA was fifth-best.

It’s not a long enough stretch to make any statements, but after the sub-.500 seasons in 2021 and ‘22, the start has fans clicking their heels.

What kind of response has Hoyer gotten from fans?

“Total anonymity in the burbs,” he said, referring to his move last year from the North Side to the North Shore.

No one apparently recognizes him in Starbucks like his predecessor, Theo Epstein. But they still can find his email address.

“Obviously it’s gratifying to start out this way,” Hoyer said. “Hope we can keep it rolling, but the effort is going to be there, and I think the team is playing like we hoped.”

The opening of the seven-game homestand was delayed 64 minutes by the threat of storms, but it turned out to be a nice night on the North Side. Before the game, former Cub Jason Heyward held court with Chicago writers for nearly 45 minutes, expressing loyalty to his new team while showing an appreciation for his seven seasons with the Cubs.

Bellinger was called for a violation on Friday in Los Angeles when he took too long to get into the box while getting a standing ovation from Dodgers fans. Reporters tried to convince Heyward to take his time getting in the box if he got in to get his own pitch-clock violation and start 0-1.

Heyward politely declined.

“You can call in (to MLB) and let everyone know there may be an ovation,” he said.

Heyward wasn’t in the starting lineup but walked in the ninth before Outman’s go-ahead grand slam. Heyward was announced to the crowd before the opening pitch and received a loud ovation but heard both boos and cheers when he came to the plate. He joined a long line of former members of the 2016 Cubs, including Jon Lester, Kyle Schwarber and Kris Bryant, who were treated royally upon their return as opposing players. Heyward joked that Anthony Rizzo or Javier Baez could soak up the adulation when they return and get two violations.

The only member of the 2016 Cubs who was booed during his return was catcher Miguel Montero in 2017. “I really don’t care,” Montero said afterward. “They cheered a lot of big hits when I was here, and whether they hate me or love me, they’re going to remember me forever.”

The same can be said of Heyward, one of the last players left from that team until being released after the 2022 season. He still calls Chicago home and opened the Jason Heyward Baseball Academy in February in North Austin to help kids develop their skills and to make an impact the community.

Kyle Hendricks is the last player standing from the 2016 Cubs, which seems hard to believe considering how beloved that team is in Chicago. Heyward said it’s not strange at all.

“My first three years in the big leagues we had really good teams (in Atlanta) and they kind of dismantled that,” he said. “So it’s part of the game, the business side of things, and time happens. That’s why I wanted to sign with the Cubs (in 2016). I knew I was going to be with a group for at least five or six years, and see where that put us. We made some history here together, did a lot of special things.”

The 2023 Cubs hope to make the same kind of history with a different cast of characters, and, of course, Hendricks and manager David Ross. It’s too early to say whether this group can continue the success of the first 17 games, but Bellinger believes they have the right stuff.

“It’s just the feel,” Bellinger said. “I’ve been on a few. Whether we’re down or up, it’s always ‘waiting for our time.’ I think that’s what it takes.”