By Ben_Kaplan. Published Friday, August 13th, 2010

SPOKANE-- Eight of the nations best American Legion baseball teams are in Spokane playing in the World Series this weekend at Avista Stadium.

Teams from North Carolina, Virginia, Oklahoma, Nevada, Las Vegas, Oregon, Minnesota, Connecticut, and Illinois won their regional tournaments for the right to play this week in Spokane. Opening ceremonies were on Friday night, and play got underway earlier in the morning.

This is the fourth time the American Legion World Series has been held in Washington, the other three times it was played in Yakima. The games run through Tuesday with the first championship game at 4pm at Avista. They will play a second championship game right after if necessary.