Has an AFL game ever ended 88-85?
Yes. AFL has seen a final score of 88-85 4 times. It first happened on May 13, 1922, when Melbourne beat Richmond, and most recently on July 15, 2017, when Geelong beat Hawthorn.
That makes 88-85 the 947th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 89-85 has happened 3 times and 88-86 has happened 1 times. At one point the score disappeared for 50 years, between 1922 and 1972.