In my part of NJ legion is basically one or two good teams and the rest are non competitive. A lot of 18-2 and 23-1 games when you look at the schedules. Like jerseydad stated above, three large high schools merged legion to field a somewhat competitive team. The best players from these schools all play travel and much of the legion team is made up of graduated players.
The best team in NJ who regularly goes to the World Series consists mainly of the best players on a private high school team. A very good, nationally ranked HS with top level talent. The players are essentially recruited by the high school and required to play on the legion team coached by the high school coaches. They dominate the local legion every year.
To me they are more like a travel team than a legion team and I think most of their players play travel also, at one part of the year or another. They have a academy for year round workouts just like a travel team would.
Legion has changed a lot in the past 10 years in our area, and not for the better.