Has an AFL game ever ended 88-86?
Exactly once. On August 26, 1978, Hawthorn beat Geelong 88-86, and no AFL game before or since has ended that way. When it happened it was a scorigami, the first 88-86 in league history.
That makes 88-86 the 3884th most common final score out of 6,649 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 89-86 has happened 9 times and 88-87 has happened 6 times.