The New York Yankees are going through a nightmare in the first weekend of August, 2025. They got dismantled in a historic three-game series in Miami, where the Marlins secured a 7-3 victory on Sunday to complete their first-ever sweep against the Bronx Bombers. That win capped an amazing turnaround for the Marlins, who finally reached a .500 record after being 16 games under that mark. But the most painful blow didn’t come from a swing; it came from the ballpark’s sound system.

When the Yankees faced their final three outs, the stadium DJ delivered the ultimate blow. The sound of Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline filled LoanDepot Park. The moment went viral almost instantly. Journalist Daniel Alvarez-Montes shared it on X, labelling it “the ultimate trolling.”

Later, an Instagram account named Baseballer also shared the video of the moment, captioning it, “The Marlins did a little trolling by playing Sweet Caroline as they’ve now swept the Yankees 😂.”

The musical jibe was brilliant. Sweet Caroline is the well-known 8th inning song of the Boston Red Sox, the Yankees’ bitter rivals. The DJ’s timing was brutally perfect as the sweep pushed the struggling Pinstripes to a 60-52 record on the season. Meanwhile, the Red Sox climbed to 62-51, now officially ahead of New York in the AL East.

In the aftermath of the terrible series, the Yankees manager, Aaron Boone, admitted to the team’s extended slump and the mounting pressure. “It’s gut check time,” he bluntly told the reporters, before further adding, “It’s certainly not too late for us… but that’s all it is right now. It’s empty until we start doing it.”

For the Yanks, the Sweet Caroline incident was the bitter end to a series of thorough dismantling that occurred over three painful games.

The anatomy of the historic sweep

It started with a wild 13-12 slugging spree that the Yankees really should have won. They gave their revamped bullpen leads of 6-0 and 9-4 to work with. But the new relievers spectacularly imploded. Marlins staged a comeback on the back of a Kyle Stowers grand slam and a pair of homers by Javier Sanoja. And then in a moment of intense pressure, Agustín Ramírez, a former Yankee, hit a walk-off dribbler in the ninth that finished the game.

While the first game was close, the second one was lost comprehensively. The bats went silent in a 2-0 shutout loss. And once again, the hero for the Marlins was the rookie catcher whom New York had traded away. Agustín Ramírez launched two solo home runs against his former club. The game was also marred by a very confusing baserunning gaffe by Jazz Chisholm Jr.

In the end, the Marlins’ historic sweep was sealed with a methodical 7-3 win. The Yanks were counting on the AL Rookie of the Year, Luis Gil’s return, for some much-needed spark. But, he performed below par, giving up five runs in only 3.1 innings. A three-run homer by Kyle Stowers put the game out of the Yankees’ reach early.

While the Marlins’ execution was perfect, the DJ doubled down on it. But hey, it’s all part of a long tradition in baseball. The subtle craft of the musical taunt has been honed over generations. Much of this tradition traces back to the work of Nancy Faust, who was the organist at White Sox games from 1970 until her retirement in 2010. Her song choices were very subtle. She would often play Who Are You for a rookie.

The organist for the Atlanta Braves once played Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone for Ryan Zimmerman, but that was more because Dylan’s birth name is Zimmerman. So, this needling is simply part of the game, and what the Marlins DJ did was not something extraordinary.