The strength of the team is very dependent on the quality of the players and coaches and in this case both have their own advantages because as far as we have observed Bayern Munich is still the best in the Bundesliga even though in the DFB Pokal they lost to Leverkusen. I also see a difference between the two clubs this season and their strength in terms of players is superior to Bayern Munich compared to Leverkusen. The competition is still quite open because there are still many matches left to be played, but the consistency of both will be tested to what extent they are able to maintain it.
In addition to Bayern Munich and Leverkusen, we also cannot miss Frankfurt who is the mediator of the competition between the two teams. Frankfurt will likely appear more consistent considering their schedule is not included in the Champions League. So this season Frankfurt can focus on maximizing their chances in the Bundesliga. Occupying 2nd position with a small difference from Leverkusen requires Frankfurt to be able to create distance.
Of course we should not only focus on these two teams just because of the hot speculation about Bayern Munich and Leverkusen especially the decline in performance experienced by Leverkusen which makes them now in the peak to defend their title, on the other hand I see that Frankfurt is not talked about too much which is even though if we look at their journey in the last few seasons they are quite consistent in crawling up every finish at the end of the season, last season they finished in 6th position in the table and we can see that now they suddenly managed to occupy second place in the standings and of course that is an extraordinary achievement for a team that initially looked ordinary, plus as you said that now they are not included in the UCL schedule which makes them more free and focused on the Bundesliga and I think Bayern Munich must be really serious in responding to this one team because they look more consistent this season.
On the other hand, yes now they have a very thin points difference with Leverkusen, this is quite tense and plus next week they will play away against Leipzig, I'm not sure about the result but at least sharing points might still be good enough for Frankfurt.

