With a late-season surge in the standings, the Toronto Blue Jays secured home-field advantage in the American League Division Series against the Texas Rangers.

Here’s what that means: should the series last the full five games, the Jays will have the benefit of hosting the Rangers at the Rogers Centre in the final game, in front of nearly 50,000 supportive fans.

But how valuable is that extra game in Toronto, and do teams gain an advantage by playing at home, as is widely believed?

Do teams feed off the energy of their fans, and benefit from a night's rest in their own beds?

Or, do the expectations and anxiety of playing in front of a hometown crowd cause them to falter?

In the case of the 2015 Blue Jays, playing at home has seemingly given the team a boost.

For starters, the Jays had 53-28 record inside the climate-controlled confines of the Rogers Centre.

In comparison, the Rangers were 45-36 away from Globe Life Park.

The Jays also scored 450 runs at home this season, the most in the entire league. Not that their offence away from the dome was much worse: The club also led the league with 441 runs scored on the road.

Meanwhile, the Jays' pitching staff has also posted strong numbers in Toronto. The club had a 3.22 ERA at the Rogers Centre, good for seventh in the league, compared to a 4.41 on the road.

But the Jays aren't the only team that saw greater success in their hometown stadium than on the road this season.

Overall, MLB clubs posted a .541 winning percentage at home, and .459 on the road.

And this isn't just a recent trend, over the past 10 years home teams have maintained a .542 winning percentage.

Jumping back even further shows that clubs have maintained a similar success rate.

Between 1901 and 2015, teams have won nearly 54 per cent of their games at home.

In that 114-year span, MLB teams as a whole have never won less than half of their games in a single season.

The lowest winning percentage posted by home teams was 0.506, during the 1917 season.

And Jays fans can take extra solace in the fact that these patterns have also held up in the post-season.

Between 2005 and 2014, home teams racked up a .567 winning percentage.

Only in the 2010 playoffs, when CY Young winner Tim Lincecum and San Francisco Giants won their first World Series since 1954, did the home teams have a losing record of 13-19.

The Jays hold home-field advantage in the ALCS unless they face the Kansas City Royals, who finished with the best record in the American League.

Because the American League defeated the National League at this year's All Star Game, the AL team that advances to the World Series will also have home-field advantage.

There have also been numerous studies on the effects of playing at home.

A 2014 review, by scientists Mark Allen and Marc Jones, analyzed a wide array of existing research on sports and athletic competitions, and found that there is "scientific support" for home-field advantage.

What they found is that large, cheering home crowds are "linked with home-team success."

They also discovered loud hometown fans can cause officials to be "more likely to make discretionary decisions … that favour the home team and dole out harsher punishments … for the away team."

Not only do home teams benefit, but their counterparts also suffer on the road, according to the study.

The researchers chalked up the negative effects to "travel fatigue."

The review also cited results from another study that found that soccer players showed "significantly higher testosterone levels before home games than before away games."

Some research suggests that added testosterone boosts athletes' performance by increasing their aggression and competiveness.

However, they also found that playing on home turf comes with some disadvantages.

The study pointed to research that indicates athletes produce greater amounts of cortisol, a stress hormone, during home games.

They added that this corresponds with self-reported data from athletes saying they feel added pressure to perform in front of their fans.

Other studies also indicate that in high-pressure conditions, athletes try to consciously control their natural movements, which often leads to "choking."

Rest assured, star pitchers David Price and Marcus Stroman will be pumped up for Game 1 and 2 in front of nearly 50,000 screaming fans at the Rogers Centre.

However, so will their counterparts on the Rangers, Yovani Gallardo and Cole Hamels.

And while the outcome is impossible to predict, the odds seem to favour the Jays.