I watched a youtube recap of Rebels, and yes Ahsoka very much plays as both sequel to it + bridge to the larger Filoni SWverse. Presumably the goal is to bring the Filoni verse characters together for a film.

The only sour ingredient is knowing that all these awesome stories with Mando, Boba, Ahsoka, Thrawn will build up and ultimately end up serving as precursor to the garbage sequels.