In New York, somehow Los Angeles always looms large.

Somehow the sunny So Cal weather always manages to lure your friends and family away from the city, and you’ve probably contemplated it yourself a few times while putting on five layers just to go down the street to your bodega. It’s Hollywood, it’s happy, it’s everything New York City is not.

Worst of all, its baseball team ran right through town last fall, eliminating the Mets and Yankees to win a World Series.

And this weekend, they’re back to face the Mets in a three-game series at Citi Field.

Depending on how you look at the situation, the Mets are facing the Dodgers at exactly the right time, or the worst time. They managed to salvage a series against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night at Fenway Park, finally coming through with runners in scoring position. Putting an end to a losing streak before it has a chance to spiral out of control was beneficial for the Mets, who snapped a streak of three losses with the win in Boston, and the Dodgers appear vulnerable, having been swept by the Los Angeles Angels last weekend.

However, the Mets flaws were exposed over the last two weeks, and the Juan Soto situation has not been fully put to rest. The slugger isn’t producing the power numbers he’s known for, and Wednesday, after being moved to third in the lineup, the outfielder had two strange at-bats, where he looked at strikes right over the plate, striking out twice while barely swinging the bat.

For a hitter who is known to have an elite eye, it was a bit befuddling. However, he did have an RBI later in the game and manager Carlos Mendoza said he was more than fine with moving down in the order, as was Pete Alonso, who hit fourth Wednesday.

“It also makes my decision a lot easier when I go up to someone like Pete Alonso and kind of [say] like, ‘Hey man, this is what I’m thinking.’ He’s like, ‘I’m all for it,’” Mendoza said. “And with Soto, ‘This is what I’m thinking.’ It’s like, ‘Whatever you need skip.’”

Defensively, the Mets have made some mental mistakes and botched some routine plays. It’s not from a lack of effort, and Mendoza doesn’t think anyone is pressing or trying too hard to make plays they can’t make either. Just about every defender in the clubhouse is capable of making dynamic plays, but it’s the routine plays that need to be made in a crisp, clean fashion.

“It comes down to executing the routine plays,” Mendoza said. “We’re not asking them to make spectacular plays — if that happens, great — but routine plays, that’s the one thing that we’ve got to master. In order for us to win baseball games, we need to complete plays, and we need to make the routine plays routine.”

Brett Baty had been playing third base with Mark Vientos in the lineup as the designated hitter. It takes away at-bats from Starling Marte, but Baty has been far more sure-handed at third base than Vientos. It’s the right play at the moment.

If there’s anything the Mets have going for them in this series, it’s their pitching. The Dodgers’ vaunted rotation fell apart quickly this season, with starters Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki and River Ryan injured, and relievers Emmet Sheehan, Evan Phillips, Kirby Yates, Blake Treinen, Brusdar Graterol and Michael Kopech all on the injured list. Their relievers have pitched more innings than any other team in the league to make up for the lack of production from the starting staff.

However, the Dodgers won the World Series with a severely depleted staff as well. And their lineup can out-hit pitching mistakes with their firepower; the Dodgers’ 81 home runs is second in the league behind the Yankees’ 84. They still lead a tight division with a 31-19 record.

The Mets, second in the NL East after their recent three-game skid, come in 30-20. Right-hander Griffin Canning is lined up to face left-hander Clayton Kershaw on Friday night. The future Hall-of-Famer struggled with his command in his season debut against the Angels in the Freeway Series last weekend, but saw some glimpses of his old stuff in a four-inning outing.

Right-hander Tony Gonsolin goes against left-hander David Peterson on Saturday night, and right-hander Landon Knack and right-hander Kodai Senga will go Sunday.

While the pitching lines up nicely for the Amazin’s, the broadcast schedule does not. AppleTV+ will carry Friday night’s game, and the next two will be on FOX and ESPN. While three national broadcasts provide good exposure for a big series on a holiday weekend, local fans much prefer their local SNY crew of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling.