Has an AFL game ever ended 88-53?
It has. 88-53 has been a AFL final 3 times in 17,053 games. The first was Sydney beat St Kilda on June 12, 1920; the latest was Fremantle beat Port Adelaide on March 26, 2005.
That makes 88-53 the 1599th most common final score out of 6,649 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 89-53 has happened 3 times and 88-54 has happened 3 times. At one point the score disappeared for 52 years, between 1920 and 1972.