It's difficult when the difference is so stark in terms of mentality and strength that even when there is an opportunity, it sometimes seems to be wasted.
For example, last season where it should have been easily obtained by Dortmund because of the determination they only had to win 3 points when they were quite favoured but in the end everything returned to belong to Bayern, which is irrefutable evidence that clubs other than Bayern in the Bundesliga seem to lose hope in the title race.
Leipzig in terms of performance I would not say they are stable but they can always be in the top 4 at the end of the season.
The start of this season they did better than before but I agree with you that it won't be a reference point for the title race because in the end all they're after is probably the top 4.
That's one opportunity that won't come to Dortmund again until after a while, if they had won their last game they would had been the defending champions and winning the league would had boosted their performance this season maybe that would had even encouraged them to try strengthening the team to a better standard of defending their trophy.
I think Leipzig are not bad this season and they're on the right track and you're not all wrong when you said they'll finish top four this season, they got a strong team capable of contending for the league they're currently third ín the table and has recorded just one lose and won theee games so far wgich is fair enough still classify them as title contenders this season hopefully in the future they'll be strong enough to challenge Bayern Munich and win the trophy
Now regardless of what happened to Dortmund last season, they should try to play better this time, but if you look at the beginning of the season, it is inversely proportional to their performance in the previous season.
Indeed, for the beginning of last season they were also almost the same because in the first 10 matches they could not play well but this means that they have not changed and their performance remains the same as before which makes hope in the Bundesliga competition this time most likely will not be seen again.
As for Leipzig, no matter how bad or good they are at the beginning of the season in the end I still think the top 4 is their place only for the title competition even if they play well they still won't be able to do that now.