What you need to know about the World Baseball Classic semifinals

It's down to the final four in baseball's version of March Madness.

What has been an epic World Baseball Classic moves to the semifinal stage starting tonight, when Team USA and the Dominican Republic face off at 8 p.m. ET at loanDepot park in Miami with a trip to Tuesday's winner-take-all final on the line.

Then, Venezuela and Italy will battle at 8 p.m. ET on Monday in Miami to determine the second spot in the final.

But before the championship matchup is set, the semifinal tilts are sure to provide an electric atmosphere and serve as another showcase of elite international baseball.

Here’s a breakdown of each WBC semifinal matchup.

USA AT DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

When and where: 8 p.m. ET tonight at loanDepot park in Miami.

How you can watch: The USA-Dominican Republic game will air live on FS1.

How you can listen: There is a free English-language audio stream available for every Classic game.

How they got here: Team Dominican Republic continued its WBC dominance in the quarterfinals, beating Korea 10-0 on the run rule in seven innings. The star-studded club jumped out to an early 7-0 lead, scoring three runs in the second inning and four more in the third, before Austin Wells ended the game with a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh. The Dominican Republic -- 5-0 in WBC action -- reached bracket play as the top seed in Pool D, beating Venezuela 7-5 in both teams’ final game of pool play to secure first place after routing Nicaragua (12-3), the Netherlands (12-1) and Israel (10-1).

Team USA held off Canada 5-3 in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals for the third straight Classic. Starter Logan Webb pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings as the U.S. jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Canada got three runs back in the sixth inning, but Team USA’s bullpen locked things down in the final three frames to advance. The U.S. finished second in Pool B, beating Brazil (15-5), Great Britain (9-1) and Mexico (5-3) before losing to Pool B champion Italy, 8-6, in the final game of pool play.

What’s at stake: The winner of this semifinal will play for the WBC championship on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET on FOX) against the winner of Monday’s semifinal between Venezuela and Italy (8 p.m. ET on FS1). The Dominican Republic has one Classic title, beating Puerto Rico in 2013 in the championship round. The U.S.’s lone WBC crown also came in a championship bout with Puerto Rico, in 2017.

Matchup history: The Dominican Republic is 2-1 all time against the USA in WBC history, but it's been nearly a decade since they last met on this stage, and it's that last matchup that represents their only loss. On their way to winning the championship in 2017, Team USA eliminated Team Dominican Republic in second-round pool play with a 6-3 victory that featured Adam Jones' iconic home run robbery against Manny Machado.

VENEZUELA AT ITALY

When and where: 8 p.m. ET on Monday at loanDepot park in Miami.

How you can watch: The Venezuela-Italy semifinal game will air live on FS1.

How you can listen: There is a free English-language audio stream available for every Classic game.

How they got here: After cruising to a 4-0 record in Pool B play -- including an upset win over Team USA -- Italy continued its WBC success with an 8-6 win over Puerto Rico in the quarterfinals on Saturday. The hot-hitting Italian squad set the tone with four runs in the bottom of the first inning, chasing Puerto Rico starter Seth Lugo, and added four more runs in the fourth. It was enough to weather an eighth-inning rally from Puerto Rico, which cut the deficit from six to two runs but got no further.

Venezuela took down defending champion Japan in a 8-5 thriller in the WBC quarterfinals, rallying from a 5-2 hole thanks to clutch home runs by Maikel Garcia and Wilyer Abreu. After Garcia’s two-run dinger in the fifth inning cut Japan’s lead to one run, Abreu crushed a go-ahead three-run shot in the sixth to give Venezuela the lead for good. The runner-up in Pool D, Venezuela beat the Netherlands, Israel and Nicaragua in pool play before falling to Team Dominican Republic -- Venezuela’s lone loss of the tournament.

What’s at stake: The winner of this matchup will play for the WBC championship on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET on FOX) against the winner of tonight's USA-Dominican Republic semifinal game. Italy is in the WBC semifinals for the first time in the event’s history. Venezuela had reached the semifinals just once, in 2009, in its five previous Classic appearances.

Matchup history: Venezuela has been Team Italy's most frequent opponent in the World Baseball Classic and, in turn, its greatest obstacle -- in five previous meetings, all in pool play (once in 2006 and twice each in 2009 and 2017), Venezuela is 5-0 against Italy with a +24 run differential. However, the two teams appeared much better matched in 2017, when, after outscoring Italy 23-1 from 2006-09, Venezuela had to settle for a pair of one-run victories, including one in a 10-inning, 11-10 slugfest.